Will Philadelphia Voters Favor Clinton Like They Did Obama?

It’s crunch time – Election Day is a little over a month away, and all the political commentators are busy watching their crystal balls for signs of which states will swing which way for which candidate in the presidential election. Pennsylvania, interestingly, is one of the states being watched. A state that hasn’t voted red since World War II – and yet, the experts aren’t predicting that Democrat Hillary Clinton has this one in the bag, even despite her post-debate surge in numbers. Penn Live questioned recently whether voters will turn out for Hillary Clinton the same way that they did for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, where his overwhelming victories in Philadelphia carried the rest of the state. Twenty electoral votes are at stake.

Will voters come out for Hillary Clinton the way they did for Barack Obama? Time will tell, but the forecast isn’t promising.

All signs are showing that voters may not feel as fired up about Clinton as they did Obama. Specifically, black voters who turned out in record numbers to support Obama may just stay home on election day, forecasters warn. Many black voters polled by Penn Live question what Hillary can do for them. On one hand, they overwhelmingly dislike Donald Trump – that much is certain. But, Penn Live says, there is a feeling that Hillary is being forced upon them by default, rather than being a candidate of the people the way Obama was viewed.

Another theory that experts have for why Obama voters may stay home for Hillary: she’s just not exciting enough. Voting for Obama for voting for the first black man in history to be President. Clinton, on the other hand, has been on the national stage – first as her husband Bill’s First Lady and later as Secretary of State – for about a quarter of a century. Her campaign doesn’t carry the same freshness or excitement for some of the voters polled, even though Clinton would be the first female president.

Only time will tell whether Philadelphia will turn out for Hillary. Until then, forecasters are gonna forecast.