Rob Jordan

Fun candidates event to Light It Up America 250 🇺🇸🎆 with Deirdre McCleary for State Representative Nick Manganaro for Congress and Michael Murphy, Kathy Buckley and John Mancinelli for State Representative!

Not even Taylor Swift has her own team of 21 Public Relation publicists! And we taxpayers are paying for this unnecessary bureaucracy

Try as he might, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) just can’t seal the deal with Pennsylvania voters.

Each year, Shapiro spends millions in Pennsylvania tax dollars to fund his 21-person public relations office, who are devoted to producing TikTok videos and relentlessly booking him cable television programs. As a result, Shapiro has received glowing coverage, with little scrutiny for his administration’s policy failures and ethical scandals that have left Pennsylvania struggling.

On top of more than three years of a multi-million-dollar taxpayer-funded public relations campaign, Shapiro has spent more than $3 million on statewide Pennsylvania television advertising promoting his administration over the last month alone. However, new polling from Quinnipiac University found Shapiro’s standing with voters is slipping.

According to Quinnipiac, Shapiro’s lead over State Treasurer Stacy Garrity (R-PA) fell by 5% at a time when Garrity has spent nothing on paid advertising. And despite Shapiro’s advertising focusing heavily on male voters, on topics ranging from apprenticeships to vocational education, those voters are clearly not buying what Shapiro is selling, because Garrity is beating Shapiro by 2% among male voters in the poll.

Most importantly, the poll shows that Garrity has room to grow, because nearly three in five voters do not have an opinion of her, while only 14% of voters do not have an opinion of Josh Shapiro. This is dangerous ground for Shapiro, who has held statewide elected office as the Commonwealth’s top cop for six years and chief executive for the past four.

Worse yet for Shapiro, Pennsylvania voters are restless. Just 7% of Quinnipiac poll respondents were “very satisfied” with the state of the Commonwealth, while 44% were either “very” or “somewhat” dissatisfied. It is clear Josh “get (stuff) done” Shapiro is not delivering for the 13 million Pennsylvanians he represents.

And it’s also clear that Shapiro knows his administration is a failure. Case in point: When Shapiro launched his campaign’s first statewide television advertisement, he focused on a program started by his predecessor – Gov. Tom Wolf (D-PA). The school meal program promoted by Shapiro was signed into law months before Shapiro ever took office, yet it was Shapiro who tried to take credit for it!

Shapiro is also having difficulty threading the needle between appealing to his liberal base and earning the votes of mainstream Pennsylvania voters. Nearly half of poll respondents (49%) say Democrats are “too far left,” while only 36% say they are “not too far.” Pennsylvania voters do not support the left-wing policies being pushed by the democratic socialist wing of the modern Democrat Party, yet these are exactly the activists Shapiro needs to court if he is to fulfill his life-long dream of running for President.

Stacy Garrity, on the other hand, is gaining on Shapiro because she is speaking to the concerns hardworking Pennsylvanians are feeling. Rather than speaking down to them from the Governor’s Mansion, Garrity is meeting directly with voters and local leaders to hear from them, collaborate with them, and discuss real solutions to the problems they are facing. Over the last month alone, Garrity has held seven townhall meetings across every media market in the Commonwealth, talking directly with voters on issues ranging from promoting small businesses to supporting our Veterans.

And Garrity’s commitment to voters has not been ignored. The more voters get to know Stacy Garrity, the more they like her. Garrity’s favorability rating rose by 6%, while her unfavorable rating remained steady despite a national environment that currently leans Democrat.

Polling is simply a validation for the growing support Garrity is feeling on the ground. She will not need to go dollar-for-dollar with Shapiro, but it is clear that with just over 100 days until Election Day, if she has the resources to compete, Stacy Garrity will give Josh Shapiro the political fight of life. Buckle up!

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