Sampling voter sentiment in swing state Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has 19 Electoral College votes in the US presidential election, the most of the "swing" states and is the reason why the two major candidates have made frequent campaign appearances here, including on Monday, the day before the election.

With a diverse voter demographic and varied political leanings, Pennsylvania is an election battleground state. It voted Democratic in the 2020 election and Republican in 2016.

Along the roads of Doylestown, Bucks County, some 25 miles north of Philadelphia, fields of red and blue banners stand like sentinels around neighborhood lawns.

Volunteers from both major political parties knock on doors or canvass along the streets, while passing cars honk in support or lower their windows to shout expressions of discontent — voices clashing like those in a rally of supporters and counter-protesters.

In many households here, Democrats, Republicans and independents live under one roof. While the two candidates — Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump, the Republican candidate — have similar foreign policies on China, voters are calling for more collaboration and dialogue between the two nations.

"It's a little bit stressful to think about, because you can never really know what a swing state is going to go through, with some of the other states, like the blue (Democratic-leading) and red (Republican-leaning) — you kind of have an idea, but then that could change," Julisa Trinidad, 29, told China Daily.

Trinidad is a resident of Northampton County, one of the swing, "bellwether" counties that has aligned with the national election outcome in 25 of the last 28 presidential elections.

Trinidad, who is voting Democrat this time, said she cares a lot about immigration issues and abortion policy.

"I have a lot of friends who are in like the black and brown community, the Asian community, who are going through their own issues that I could never fully understand … so I want to vote for what's best in their interests and hopefully see a better change for them," Trinidad said.

"For women's issues, like the topic of abortion as well, like that's always been a big thing for me to let people do what they want with their bodies, whether you're pro-choice or pro-life. I don't care. Let people have the right to choose. I don't want any laws enforcing that on anybody."

Trinidad said there were many hate crimes against the Chinese community during the height of the COVID pandemic. 

"The climate is there, and I know there's a lot of like bigotry surrounding it, and I don't know if it's a result of misinformation," she said. 

"I would rather see peace talks come along, obviously. I'm not going to sit here and blame China for every little thing. … If there is a way to mitigate it, maybe if some peace talks, maybe avoid conflict, I would like to see that," Trinidad said.

"I'll do some research tonight and find out who are the people who best represent my values," Jonathan Christ, 42, of York County, told China Daily.

He said the signs in the neighborhood are "70-30" in favor of Trump. "You feel like your vote matters more in a [swing state], and it's important to make a contribution to who represents us."

Christ said he is looking for an "election that has integrity and is fair" and said that legal immigration and the economy are the key issues for him. He said that while he isn't sure about economic relations between China and the United States, the two countries are "dependent on each other". 

"I don't think either one of our economies works without each other, so we need to find a way to work together," he said.

"I don't know if either major candidate meets my needs. I'm not going to vote for anybody. I guess I would say I'm a little nervous about the future," said Tom Judd, 39, of Philadelphia.

Judd said the Gaza war and abortion are key issues for him. Describing the situation as "horrible" with a lot of ineffective talk and minimal action, he criticized Harris for not taking a strong stance against Israel's actions in Gaza and Lebanon. He also said that if Trump is elected, the situation in Gaza would likely worsen.

"I'm not looking forward to the election, but I am looking forward to not seeing as many political ads and billboards," he said. 

Generation Z also could play a role in the election.

"Pennsylvania is incredibly important. I'm a little anxious just because it seems like a coin flip of an election, but I have faith that, you know, Pennsylvania will make the right choice," said Jonah Miller, 21, who is majoring in politics, philosophy and economics at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Miller said he made his first vote in a presidential election for Harris, explaining that he doesn't agree with Trump's proposals, especially his plans for tariffs and mass deportation.

"I just think that the survival of democracy is incredibly important," he said.

On China, Miller said he believes in the ability of cooperating with most countries rather than having them as adversaries.

"I'm hoping for some level of cooperation, especially for the large Chinese American population here that does still have strong ties and family back in (the Chinese mainland)," he said.

Nick Lenz, 22, from Illinois, is studying city planning at the University of Pennsylvania. He said the election atmosphere is more intense here and that he believes his vote "really matters".

"I think that there needs to be an element of cooperation, but both sides need to have a pretty fair conversation about the trade imbalance between the two," he said.

"We get an extreme amount of goods from China, but we also ship, and we also have a lot of farmers in this country who are extremely reliant on the Chinese, mostly for soybeans. We ship an extreme amount of soybeans over there, yet the tariffs that Trump put on soybeans is really hurting farmers.

"We need to have a pretty fair argument about that, but I think that that's one that if there's a good dialogue, we could probably come together," he said.