DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Thirty miles north of Philadelphia, upscale residential areas like Colonial Commons punctuate dairy farms, century-old stone houses lining the roadside and the winding Neshaminy Creek that flows between Doylestown and Newtown, both towns once rural outposts that have transformed into chic commercial, dining and shopping centers.
This is one of the most closely watched areas of U.S. politics. President Joe Biden boosted his vote in Bucks County, which includes both cities, when he captured Pennsylvania from Republican Donald Trump four years ago, winning by a wide margin among the state’s suburban women.
Biden and his allies are trying to replicate Democrats’ success with suburban women this year and suggest they can win over a miniature number of Republican women who may oppose a second Trump presidency. But in dozens of interviews this month in Pennsylvania’s Bucks County, there was little sign that customary Republicans would be willing to abandon Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, in significant numbers.
“I feel like I have to vote for the policy, not the person,” said Lynn Natale, a 62-year-old interior designer. While Natale criticized Trump’s rhetorical style – “it’s like he doesn’t have the words to speak directly to women” – she said she supports Trump’s ideas on the economy and immigration.
“The alternative is unacceptable,” she said.
On a radiant Saturday afternoon, about a dozen volunteers gathered at Biden’s campaign office in Bucks County. The group spread out across politically diverse neighborhoods around Doylestown, knocking on the doors of registered Republican voters and voters with no affiliation with either major party to ask them about the issues that most concerned them.
In addition to the Biden campaign’s campaign in politically diverse and Republican-voting neighborhoods of Bucks County, conservative groups like Women4Us and Republican Voters Against Trump are mobilizing in the Philadelphia suburbs in hopes of poaching Republican voters.
Stephanie Sharp of Women4Us pointed out that former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley received 22% of the vote in the four-county Philadelphia suburban bloc in April’s Republican presidential primary, representing 42,032 votes that Haley received six weeks after suspending her campaign in what appeared to be a protest vote against Trump.
“The closed Republican primary in Pennsylvania showed that there is a desire for something better,” said Sharp, whose group plans to target Republican women in the states with the most competitive presidential races, including Pennsylvania.
“Republican women are tired of having our voices taken for granted,” Sharp added.
Trump’s team believes inflation and illegal immigration will drive some suburban women closer to the former president, who is holding a rally in Philadelphia on Saturday.
“President Trump is speaking to women when he talks about the astronomical costs of rent, groceries and gas in Biden’s America,” said Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. “President Trump is speaking to women when he talks about the migrant crime that has ravaged the suburbs.”
About 6 in 10 suburban Pennsylvania women voted for Biden in 2020, while 4 in 10 voted for Trump, according to AP VoteCast, a comprehensive survey of voters across the country. But this year, many suburban women aren’t cheerful about facing the same confrontation – a trend that public polls suggest is true for Americans as a whole.
A recent KFF poll of women voters found that about 6 in 10 suburban women are dissatisfied with their presidential candidates. About half of those who identify as Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party said the main reason for their dissatisfaction with Biden was related to his age or his mental and physical health.
A much smaller proportion of Democratic-leaning suburban women expressed other concerns, such as the conflict between Israelis and Hamas, the economy, or his performance as president.
Suburban women voters in general were much more likely to say Biden respects women than Trump. About 7 in 10 suburban women voters said Biden respects women a lot or somewhat, compared with only about 3 in 10 suburban women who said this about Trump. Nearly 7 in 10 suburban women said Trump does not respect women very much or at all.
But when asked about the most essential issue for their vote in 2024, suburban women most frequently cited inflation.
Terry Sykes, owner of the boutique and spa on Newtown’s picturesque State Street, says the local economy is most essential to her.
She said it had flourished during Trump’s time in office, “like turning on a light switch.”
“To be clear, all of Trump’s policy positions support my lifestyle,” said Sykes, 61. “I mean, he is who he is. And women need to get over it. Because it’s about politics and the health of our economy.”
Anusha Bela, working at a laptop in a cafe in bustling downtown Doylestown, was initially a more ardent Biden supporter but was disappointed by what she saw as his snail-paced response to Israeli violence in Gaza.
“And would I prefer someone younger? Yes. Would I prefer someone who seems to have newer ideas? Yes,” said the 40-year-old sports business consultant wearing a Philadelphia Phillies cap.
“But Trump is a threat to democracy,” she said.
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Associated Press writer Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report.
