I finally got some actual election numbers out of Pennsylvania, but I warn you against putting too much into them.
In 2012, my precinct in Chester County, voted for Mitt Romney by a decent 51.6%-47.4 margin. The precinct election is held in an elementary school, and it’s an elementary school that my child now attends. Today the K-5 children cast their ballots for president and the result was 64% for Hillary Clinton and 34% for Donald Trump.
Now, I told a friend of mine about this who is a high school teacher at a public school in neighboring Delaware Country (also in the critical Philadelphia suburbs) and he informed me that his 9-12 kids voted for Clinton today by a narrower 55%-41% margin.
I am not sure which school district is more affluent, but they’re both chock full of highly educated tax-averse professionals, let’s just put it that way. I would not have been surprised if the kids at my son’s school had gone for Trump because, as I said, their parents narrowly went for Romney four years ago.
And, honestly, don’t most elementary school kids echo the political preferences of their parents?
Now, my friend’s district and mine may be close as the crow flies, but Chester and Delaware Counties are much different politically. Delaware County is closer to Philly and it voted for Obama in 2012 (60%-39%). But Chester County, where I live, voted for Romney by a whopping 1,048 vote margin (49.7%-49.2%). As you can see, my precinct was more Republican four years ago than the county as a whole.
So, the fact that the elementary school kids in this precinct just gave Clinton a bruising 28% victory is probably indicative that their parents are a little cooler to Trump than they were to Romney.
On the other hand, the numbers out of my friend’s high school might look good, but they’re actually significantly below the countywide margin that Obama enjoyed in 2012. That’s probably because Delaware County (confusingly) includes the city of Chester which is heavily Democratic and which skews the countywide results. What I do know, though, is that the Republicans should be cleaning up in both places if they have any real hope of winning the state. Based on how the children feel, they aren’t.
