Southwest Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh/Eastern Suburbs):
In 2008, there were Obama signs everywhere; same with bumperstickers. 2012 is a much different story. In my area, I have seen Romney signs EVERYWHERE! The only signs that had Obama’s name on them were the ones that said STOP THE WAR ON COAL, FIRE OBAMA. I’ve seen only 3 Obama signs thoughout my travels in Penn Hills, Plum, Monroeville and Murrysville, but countless Romney signs, even the big 3x5 foot signs in front yards. Penn Hills has a big black population and is heavily democrat. The majority of signs I’ve seen have been Romney. I’ve seen two Bam signs, but they were in the same yard.
In addition, I travel to Greene County a great deal. Romney everywhere, nothing for Obama. I was in Jefferson County last week. Again, Romney EVERYWHERE, no Obama.
The only place I’ve seen a lot of Obama signs has been in Mount Lebanon, a very wealthy community (lots of rich liberals), but even there, the Romney signs seemed about even.
In SWPA, you have a lot of coal jobs and businesses relying on the coal operations as well. I think that you’ll see a great deal of switching in the Pittsburgh/Scranton/Philly areas as there are a lot of coal miners in those regions. JMO, but I think that this, along with the Philly suburbs flipping to Mitt, will turn PA red on Nov. 6.