On the airwaves
Trump may have sensed — or polled — trouble as the presumptive Republican nominee sat for a remote interview with 6ABC on primary day. He said Biden was responsible for an “open border,” took credit for overturning Roe v. Wade and making abortion access a state-by-state decision, and attacked Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and a witness in the “hush money” trial now underway in New York — possibly violating the judge’s gag order.
“Now all of the states are making their decision,” Trump said about the patchwork of abortion access across the country. “Pennsylvania is making its decision. They’re all making their decision. And this is what people have wanted… It’s tailormade, and it’s really working out well for people, and they’re very, very happy.
The Biden-Harris campaign sent WHYY News a statement in response.
“People are not ‘happy,’” said campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa. “Because of Donald Trump, women are being turned away from emergency rooms and forced to wait until they are on the brink of death before receiving the care they need. Child rape victims have to leave their states to get health care.”
Voter issues
At the polls and various events, voters usually cited abortion, the economy, immigration and threats to democracy as their top issues, often determined along partisan lines.
“I would say reproductive health rights is probably the most important one to me,” Laura Mantini, a Philadelphia high school senior who was voting for the first time in her life, told WHYY News.
On the other side, Kim Crowley, a resident of Bensalem and a Trump supporter, said she was concerned about border security and inflation.
“We are in such a state of despair in America today that our only hope is Trump,” she said. “I work 40, 50 hours a week, and I could barely afford groceries, or gas from my car. And everybody is struggling.”
Inflation has been a challenge for the Biden administration, hitting record levels during and following the pandemic but has decreased in the last year, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.