Another MAGA Governor Candidate Losing By Double Digits In Poll

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Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican pick in the state’s ongoing race for governor, is 22 percent behind Democratic nominee and current state Attorney General Josh Shapiro in new polling conducted by Franklin & Marshall College that reflects the opinions of registered voters.

When asked to choose from a list including candidates from minor parties, 54 percent of respondents picked Shapiro, and 32 percent went with Mastriano, who despite a comparatively short time in public office has risen to particular prominence with his involvement in promoting election lies. He hosted a hearing after the 2020 presidential election where Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, and Trump himself (via speakerphone) pushed nonsense about the then-recently concluded election, and he also got directly in touch with a then-top official at the Justice Department to promote the election lies, and Trump cited Mastriano’s work. In office, Mastriano has also opposed the expansion of mail-in voting to all Pennsylvanians, although he originally voted in favor of the legislation that established the program, and he led a vetoed bill that would have allowed all Pennsylvanians to serve as election observers anywhere in the state if otherwise eligible.

The bill, which outgoing Democratic Governor Tom Wolf rejected, could’ve allowed essentially targeted harassment of marginalized communities by election conspiracists. As governor, Mastriano would have the potentially critical power to approve these and other draconian propositions for the handling of elections in Pennsylvania, where mail-in voting was only offered to all residents for the first time in 2020 — leading to court challenges threatening the millions of ballots cast through the new arrangements. The state still doesn’t have early voting available in-person, but nearly three-quarters of a million votes were already cast in the state via mail as of Thursday. Far more Dems than Republicans are casting their ballots early in Pennsylvania, evidently letting Dems secure early turnout victories while Republicans await Election Day. In a close state, any portion of voters suddenly hesitant to vote at all because of lies from Trump and other Republican officials about the security of the U.S. elections process could make all the necessary difference.

In the Franklin & Marshall polling, Shapiro’s standing against Mastriano has consistently improved over recent months. A full 55 percent of respondents said in the October polling that Shapiro “Best understands the concerns of Pennsylvanians,” while only 31 percent went with Mastriano on that question. Shapiro led when respondents were asked which candidate they think “Will change government policies in a way that will improve your economic situation,” although those saying they were unsure reached one-fourth of the total. A full 88 percent said they were satisfied with the selection of Shapiro as Democratic nominee, and Mastriano only saw 47 percent saying the same in his corner. (Both questions weren’t asked of the entire sample.)