News & Brews October 10, 2022
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Why are undecided voters still undecided?
The Inquirer spoke to a dozen undecided voters to find out why they still fall into this category with just a few weeks left until Election Day. The Inky’s takeaway: “They just haven’t tuned in yet, they disliked all the candidates, or they had made up their mind in one but not all of the races.” Read more here.
Ticket splitters may go for Oz, Shapiro
The LNP reports (paywall), “Dissatisfaction with GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano among mainstream Republicans has led to the emergence of an unusual species of Pennsylvania voter: Those who plan to vote for Senate candidate Mehmet Oz in the closely watched U.S. Senate race and then mark their ballots for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro.” Ticket-splitting—voting for one candidate of one party in one race and another candidate of a different party in another race—is far from unheard of, and the story notes that Pa. voters “have a long history of splitting tickets.”
After Biden’s marijuana move, Wolf says he doesn’t have similar authority
In response to a tweet by President Biden “calling on governors to pardon simple state marijuana possession offenses,” Gov. Wolf noted, “Under Pennsylvania law, I don’t have unilateral pardon authority — but I’m doing everything I can to right the wrongs of the failed war on drugs.” City & State PA reports, “Under the Pennsylvania Constitution, a governor has the ability to grant pardons and commute sentences, but only if a majority of the state’s Board of Pardons – made up of the lieutenant governor, the attorney general and three gubernatorial appointees – makes a recommendation to the governor.”
Study: ‘Pa. failing to capitalize on manufacturing growth’
Pittsburgh Works recently published a research brief noting, “Pennsylvania overall is down 10,000 manufacturing jobs compared to pre-pandemic levels (August 2022 versus February 2020). The Pittsburgh region is down about 1,600 manufacturing jobs while the Philadelphia region is down about 1,700.” Even worse, we’re lagging behind the country as a whole, the brief notes, “If Pennsylvania were growing at the national average, it would have 12,900 more manufacturing jobs than it does today. If it were even growing at Ohio’s rate, it would have 1,400 more.”