{"id":124127,"date":"2026-02-26T14:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/124127\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T14:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:12:14","slug":"highlights-from-a-new-pa-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/124127\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights from a new Pa. poll."},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania voters appear to be all in on Gov. Josh Shapiro<\/a>\u2019s reelection bid, while some are still warming up to the thought of him being president one day. <\/p>\n

Among registered voters, the Democratic incumbent leads his Republican challenger, State Treasurer Stacy Garrity<\/a>, 55-37%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 40% of Pennsylvania voters think that Shapiro, who has been bolstering his national political profile<\/a> and has a job approval rating of 56%, would make a good president, according to the poll.<\/p>\n

But 43 percent of the state\u2019s voters do not think he would make a good president and 16% didn\u2019t offer an opinion, despite his high overall approval. <\/p>\n

A strong majority of Democrats<\/a> and a plurality of independent voters both said he would be a good president, but a strong majority of Republicans<\/a> disagreed. <\/p>\n

The survey, conducted among 836 registered voters in Pennsylvania from Feb. 19-23, offers a glimpse of what voters in one of the most politically consequential states think of top elected officials a little more than eight months ahead of the high-stakes 2026 midterms. <\/p>\n

Pennsylvania voters also shared their perceptions of U.S. Sen John Fetterman<\/a> (D., Pa), who has significant support among Republicans but a low rating with his own party, and President Donald Trump<\/a>, whose job approval rating is sitting below 50% in a state he won two years ago. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what else to know from the Quinnipiac poll:<\/p>\n

Republicans support John Fetterman. Democrats don\u2019t. <\/p>\n

Fetterman has been known to cross the political aisle and his willingness to embrace the Trump and take key votes with Republicans appears to be costing him with voters in his own party.<\/p>\n

Sixty-two percent of Democratic Pa. voters disapprove of how Fetterman is handling his job while only 22% approve. <\/p>\n

Those dismal numbers with his own party are worse than Fetterman\u2019s Republican colleague, Sen. Dave McCormick<\/a>, who has a 54% disapproval rate with Democrats. <\/p>\n

After three years in office, Fetterman does much better with Republicans than his own party. Among GOP voters 73% approve of the Democratic senator compared to just 18% who disapprove, according to the poll. Among independents in the swing state, 48% approve and 37% disapprove.<\/p>\n

This dynamic has helped fuel speculation of a future party switch \u2014 something Fetterman has repeatedly shot down<\/a> \u2014 or a Democratic primary challenge. <\/p>\n

The progressive Working Families Party<\/a> has said it will support<\/a> and, if needed, recruit, a challenger. Fetterman has repeatedly sparred with progressives on a range of issues from unconditional support for Israel\u2019s military actions in Gaza to his stance on immigration enforcement. <\/p>\n

He also drew ire from fellow Pennsylvania Democrats for crossing the aisle to support a Republican plan <\/a>to end last year\u2019s government shutdown without a deal to address expiring healthcare subsidies. <\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Philadelphia), a potential primary challenger, has repeatedly called Fetterman \u201cTrump\u2019s favorite Democrat,\u201d including on Tuesday night when the senator shook the president\u2019s hand at the State of the Union. <\/a><\/p>\n

Other names floated as potential contenders include U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D., Beaver) and former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, who lost the 2022 primary to Fetterman. <\/p>\n

Which party do Pa. voters want to win the midterms? <\/p>\n

Forty-nine percent of Pa. registered voters, want to see Democrats win control of the U.S. House in November, while 43% want to see Republicans maintain their advantage. <\/p>\n

November\u2019s midterms are consequential for both parties, especially in the House where Republicans currently have a slim majority. <\/p>\n

But voters in Pennsylvania have soured on Trump, who receives just 40% approval in the poll compared to 55% disapproval. And he\u2019s losing ground on two key issues the propelled him to office, the economy and immigration. <\/p>\n

According to the poll, only 28% of Pa. voters think the economy is getting better, while 47% think it\u2019s getting worse, and 23% think it\u2019s staying the same. <\/p>\n

Additionally, 56% believe the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement is too harsh in how it treats undocumented immigrants. Meanwhile, 36% think the president is handling immigration correctly and 6% think the administration is being too lenient. <\/p>\n

Democrats believe they can capitalize on these issues and defeat<\/a> incumbents in key swing districts: Republican U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, of Bucks County<\/a>; Ryan Mackenzie, of Lehigh County; Rob Bresnahan, of Lackawanna County; and Scott Perry<\/a>, of York County.<\/p>\n

Trump has endorsed every member<\/a> of the Republican U.S. House delegation in Pennsylvania, except for Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania voters appear to be all in on Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s reelection bid, while some are still warming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,58221],"class_list":{"0":"post-124127","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-pennsylvania","9":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","10":"tag-pennsylvania-news","11":"tag-poll-pennsylvania-shapiro-fetterman-trump-voters"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}