At the Bucks County Democrats’ first meeting since the April 26 Pennsylvania primary, one worry dominated: Donald Trump had done better than expected in this blue-leaning exurban expanse north and east of Philadelphia.
At one polling place, these Democrats’ Republican neighbors — nice people, nothing like the Trump supporters they had seen throw punches at protesters — were proud enough to grab lawn signs.
“It was stunning,” said Stan Durey, 67, a former security analyst who works at a car dealership. “I just stood there shaking my head, going, ‘Really?’ It wasn’t two, it wasn’t three — it must have been 20 or 30 people walking away with Trump signs. To me, that’s an alarm bell.”
Across the country, Trump has performed best in the sorts of places Democrats could afford to lose: landslides in Appalachia or in white counties of the deep South. To win the White House in November, he must extend his appeal to unlikely states and unlikely parts of those states. In one of those places — the suburbs of Pennsylvania — Trump is not as toxic as Democrats expected.
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