Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) told The New York Times that the support for former President Trump in his battleground state is “astonishing.”
In an interview with the paper titled “John Fetterman Fears Trump Is Stronger Than Ever,” the Democrat said he “100 percent” agrees that the GOP presidential nominee has a “special connection with the people of Pennsylvania."
Fetterman was pressed to explain.
"There’s a difference between not understanding, but also acknowledging that it exists," he said. "And anybody spends time driving around, and you can see the intensity. It’s astonishing. I was doing an event in Indiana County. Very, very red. And there was a superstore of Trump stuff, and it was a hundred feet long, and it was dozens of T-shirts and hats and bumper stickers and all kinds of, I mean, it’s like, Where does this all come from? It’s the kind of thing that has taken on its own life. And it’s like something very special exists there. And that doesn’t mean that I admire it. It’s just — it’s real."
Fetterman also believes having the support of Elon Musk will be pivotal in the state.
"And now [Elon] Musk is joining him," he continued. "I mean, to a lot of people, that’s Tony Stark. That’s the world’s richest guy. And he’s obviously, and undeniably, a brilliant guy, and he’s saying, Hey, that’s my guy for president. That’s going to really matter."
While Fetterman said he doesn't believe endorsements tend to significantly impact races, Musk's support is different.
"In some sense, he’s a bigger star than Trump," Fetterman argued. "Endorsements, they’re really not meaningful often, but this one is, I think. That has me concerned."
The average of polling in Pennsylvania shows an extremely tight race, with Trump ahead by less than a point, according to RealClearPolitics.
When the Times asked Fetterman about the accuracy of polling this cycle, the Democrat explained how they were incorrect when he ran and when Hillary Clinton was on the ballot.
"My polls in my race all said I was going to lose by one or two points, and I carried it by five points," he explained. "And everybody thought that Clinton was going to just kill him. And of course, no. And people thought that in 2020 Biden was going to have like five points. And I’m like, no, this isn’t going to be a five-point race here. And it wasn’t, and it was incredibly close. And that same thing has been replicated. And the only thing that’s changed is he’s more popular. And you have Elon Musk standing right next to him. So I’m not sure what else has changed, except if anything, Trump has become more capable to withstand whatever, you know, whether it was the trials or the assassination or all of those things, but here he is."