Election 2024: Here are the issues Pennsylvania voters care the most about

Pennsylvania is one of the three "blue wall" states and voted blue from 1992 to 2012. Former President Donald Trump took the state in 2016 by 0.7 points, but President Joe Biden won the Keystone State’s 19 Electoral College votes by 1.2 points. It is one of the most keenly contested battleground states.

The Washington Examiner is following the key issues voters care about as they prepare to vote for the next president of the United States. The specific issues being tracked are Social Security, crime, abortion, economy, and immigration.

The issues were chosen with the help of the Associated Press issues tracker . The Washington Examiner subsequently compared five of the key issues in Google Trends on a state-by-state basis, revealing which are most important to voters in swing contests.

Here, you can track how important these various concerns are to the voters in Pennsylvania on a rolling 30-day basis.

Crime was the No. 1 issue for Pennsylvania voters despite crime rates largely decreasing. In 2023, the Pennsylvania State Police’s Uniform Crime Reporting program reported steep drops in crime from 2013 to 2022, although crime rose slightly between 2020 and 2022.

In 2022, there were 677,138 criminal offenses throughout the state, which is a 24.3% decrease from 2013.

Crimes that have dropped over the last decade yet still risen following the pandemic are larceny, theft, and burglary. However, murder/manslaughter, sex offenses, fraud, and motor vehicle theft have only risen since 2013, with murder rates being the most jarring at a 76.9% increase. Drug sales, drug possession, vandalism, and DUI offenses have all fallen since the pandemic in 2020.

Social Security is also toward the top of the list when it comes to trends, coming in at second place. The state has been a battlefront for Social Security problems this election cycle, with the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reporting that seniors across the state were concerned about potential Social Security cuts following comments from Trump on the campaign trail.

In March 2024, some residents were alarmed following Trump’s interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, where he said, “There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting, and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements.”

Regardless of the vague nature of Trump’s statement, Biden mobilized his campaign and began informing voters of what Social Security cuts could mean for them. In Pennsylvania, 20% of the population is 65 or older equating to over 2 million residents relying on its benefits.

Prior to any comments from Trump, Social Security was still a focus for Democrats. Biden stated in his State of the Union address on March 7, “If anyone here tried to cut Social Security or Medicare, or raise the retirement age, I will stop you.”

Reproductive health was the third issue for Pennsylvanians, and the state has the procedure protected through the 23rd week of pregnancy. After 23 weeks, abortion is only permitted to save the life of the mother. The state requires pre-procedure testing and counseling with proof of counseling sessions provided within 24 hours of the procedure. Parental or guardian consent is required for minors who do not seek a judicial bypass.

Pennsylvania offers statistics relevant to the mortality rate of abortions nationally, listing that from 2013 to 2018, the fatality rate from abortions was 0.41 per 100,000 in comparison to the maternal mortality rate in 2020 being 23.8 per 100,000.

Economic concerns were second-to-last for Pennsylvania voters. The unemployment rate in the state has been roughly 1 percentage point more than the national average, with the rate coming in at 3.4% in Nov. 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Pennsylvania is experiencing economic growth, with a gross domestic product growing at 5.6% and amounting to $974.9 billion, placing the economy 14th in the state for growth in 2023.

Mining and gas extraction in Pennsylvania saw a GDP growth of 10.6% last year as well as manufacturing growing 10%. Wholesale trade and real estate both saw growth rates of 3%. Educational services was one of the few industries to take a hit, falling 5.6%.

Immigration was the least pressing issue to voters in Pennsylvania. About 7.7% of the state’s population are immigrants — roughly 1 million people. Immigrants make up 9.7% of the state’s workforce, while being 13.4% of Pennsylvania’s entrepreneurs and 16.7% of STEM workers, according to the American Immigration Council.

Immigrants paid $13.1 billion in taxes in 2022 and had a collective spending power of $34.2 billion. There were 70,200 immigrant businesses that saw a total business income of $2 billion.

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Immigrants in Pennsylvania are significantly more likely to hold graduate degrees, with the top occupations for immigrant workers being physical scientists, agricultural workers, teachers, and physicians. There are 48,593 international students in the state, and they contributed $2 billion to the economy in 2022.

The top countries of origin for Pennsylvania immigrants are the Dominican Republic, India, China, Mexico and Vietnam. Of all the immigrants in the state, 56.1% are naturalized, 153,300 are eligible for naturalization, and 15.5% of immigrants are undocumented.