John Fetterman is a man without a country. Or at least, a politician without a party that actually wants him.
A fresh Quinnipiac University poll dropped a bomb on Pennsylvania politics, revealing that 52 percent of voters in the state want the hoodie-wearing junior senator to ditch the Democratic Party. It is a bizarre consensus. Democrats want him gone. Republicans want to adopt him. Independents are just watching the circus.
Specifically, 57 percent of registered Democrats want to show him the exit. On the flip side, 55 percent of Republicans are ready to roll out the red carpet, while 46 percent of independents think a party switch makes sense.
“The Democrats would like to show him the door. The Republicans seem to be welcoming him in,” said Tim Malloy, a polling analyst for Quinnipiac. He called it the “political irony” of Fetterman. That is putting it mildly. It is a flat-out identity crisis.
Ever since he grabbed Pat Toomey’s old seat in 2022, Fetterman has delighted in poking his own caucus in the eye. He votes with the GOP just enough to annoy his base and talks trash about progressive sacred cows. Yet, he insists he is not jumping ship. He wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that he would make a “terrible Republican” because he still votes with Democrats most of the time. He even told NewsNation that his appeal to the right is just “confusing.”
But there is a line in the sand. Fetterman admitted this week that if the Democrats officially become the “anti-Israel party,” he is out. For him, that is a matter of “moral clarity.”
Meanwhile, Governor Josh Shapiro is cruising. The poll shows Shapiro holding a comfortable 13-point lead over Republican challenger Stacy Garrity. It is a bit tighter than his 18-point lead back in February, but he is still sitting pretty. Why? Because nobody knows who Garrity is. Shapiro boasts a 56 percent approval rating.
Then there is Donald Trump. The former president is absolutely toxic in the state right now, sitting at a brutal 19 points underwater with a dismal 39 percent approval rating against 58 percent disapproval.
The numbers come from a survey of 895 registered Pennsylvania voters conducted between July 9 and July 13. The margin of error is 4.3 percent. But you don’t need a math degree to see the writing on the wall. Fetterman is playing a dangerous game of political chicken.
