PA Demographics Imperil Incumbent GOP Senator
Posted Mar 19, 2009 at 8:40 AM
Maurice Berger, Political Director, PollTrack
Incumbent US Senator Arlen Specter has a new challenge in Pennsylvania: the state's shifting demographics. According to election data tabulated by Roll Call, his once reliable suburban Philadelphia base "has seen the sharpest drop in Republican registrations in the state -- numbers that collectively exceed his margin of victory over Pat Toomey in the 2004 Republican primary. . . . A simultaneous spike in Democratic enrollment likely means that moderate Republicans switched their registrations over the past four years. The result is bad math for Specter, who will likely face a more conservative GOP electorate in the 2010 primary than he did in 2004."
