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Posted on 01/27/2026 3:20:05 PM PST by lightman
There will be plenty of verbal sparring in this year’s governor’s race, but what are the top issues that Pennsylvania voters want Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and presumed Republican challenger state Treasurer Stacy Garrity to address?
Well, if recent polls provide an accurate snapshot, the economy and healthcare will lead voters’ lists from now until Election Day on Nov. 3.
“The governor’s race is certainly going to be affected by the same issues that will affect the broader midterm cycle with inflation, employment and healthcare all weighing on the races,” said Chris Borick, a political science professor and the director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Allentown.
Berwood Yost, director of polling for Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster agreed.
“There’s no doubt that the economy is top of the mind for voters,” said Yost. “It was in 2024 and it remains that way today.”
In a recent PennLive/Bravo Group Morning Scrapple poll, voters said the economy and healthcare were by far the most important issues facing Pennsylvanians.
An October Franklin & Marshall College poll had the economy, including unemployment, housing and utility costs, as the second-most important issue, just behind government and politics, which Yost said shows how much voters are frustrated with elected leaders.
Thirty-six percent of respondents in that F&M poll said they were worse off financially than a year ago. Yost said that the Shapiro and Garrity campaigns must deal with those concerns.
“If they don’t address the issues, they’re going to have problems,” said Yost.
Shapiro’s campaign referred PennLive to his remarks earlier this month when he officially announced his re-election bid during appearances in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
The governor said he has learned about Pennsylvanians’ concerns in conversations across the state.
“They want good schools for their kids and grandkids, safe communities, economic opportunities where they can get ahead, they want to dream big dreams and be able to afford to live in the communities they love,” Shapiro said. “They want their rights and freedoms to be protected. They want to pass on a better world to their kids than they inherited.”
Shapiro rehashed his administration’s first term, citing increased public safety and education funding, and economic development that has spurred the state to have the only growing economy in the northeast.
“We’ve got more stuff to do,” said Shapiro, “more people to help and more problems to solve.”
The governor then laid out an agenda that includes making life more affordable for Pennsylvanians, caring for the sick, economic development that helps everyone, raising the minimum wage (stuck at $7.25 for 16 years) to $15 per hour, helping residents achieve home ownership and codifying protections for the LGBTQ community into law.
Shapiro also talked about farms and small businesses struggling, the prospect of hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania losing healthcare coverage and protecting the state from federal overreach.
Most recently, Shapiro has taken aim at the PJM Interconnection power grid and rising electricity prices that Yost noted is a chief concern among working-class voters.
Garrity’s goal is to convince voters that Shapiro has not done a good enough job to improve the state. Her campaign has repeatedly pointed out that U.S. News & World Reports ranked Pennsylvania 38th economically, 39th in education and 41st overall.
During a recent address to the Pennsylvania Press Club, Garrity “outlined her positive vision to turn our Commonwealth around, which included empowering families, expanding opportunities for businesses, rebuilding our broken infrastructure, and utilizing Pennsylvania’s energy resources to grow our economy,” said Garrity campaign spokesman Matt Beynon.
“While visiting the Pennsylvania Farm Show, Treasurer Garrity also outlined in detail her priorities to support Pennsylvania’s struggling agriculture community,” said Beynon.
Garrity’s pro-agriculture agenda includes eliminating the death tax on family farms, helping young farmers move into the business, reducing government red tape for farmers, expanding farming to address so-called “food deserts” in Pennsylvania communities, offering fresh food boxes to SNAP recipients, and offering financial assistance to 1,000 new farmers.
Beynon said that Garrity will be offering detailed proposals on other issues in the coming months “to help Pennsylvania families grow, Pennsylvania businesses thrive and make Pennsylvania a national leader once again.”
One issue that Garrity will have to fight to overcome is President Donald Trump’s unpopularity among Pennsylvania voters. Bravo’s poll found that 57% disapprove of Trump’s job performance.
Trump’s struggles with voters only exasperates the traditional uphill climb a president’s party has in midterm elections. Garrity has been a strong Trump supporter although she has yet to receive his endorsement.
“In midterms like this the president’s standing has often played a significant role and the party of the president often pays a price at the polls,” Borick said. “Pennsylvania has a long history of voting for governors opposite of the president’s party.”
Borick said those factors “benefit Shapiro and when you add in his high job approval rating and campaign resources he is in a strong position. Garrity will need to find way to diminish Shapiro’s standing while simultaneously building on her strengths to form a viable alternative for voters.”
Garrity faces long odds to defeat Shapiro, but Yost said she has won two statewide races, set the record for most statewide votes and should not be underestimated.
“She’s a good candidate in terms of her qualifications and experience,” he said. “She’s shown that she can attract votes, and I don’t think we should discount that.”
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Let's work for a rerun!
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Who do we have other than nobody? I’m waiting for Glenn Youngkin in Virginia to admit he’s a coward for not challenging the ugly VP candidate from ‘16-senate.
A top-tier losing candidate should volunteer to take one for the team. Lose but make the opponent work for it. We don’t have any of those people unlike the rats.
So a minority of people on a liberal poll...
Garrity’s pro-agriculture agenda includes eliminating the death tax on family farms, helping young farmers move into the >>. She need to expand this to eliminate the Cancer tax on real estate transfers under a year and all that is all inheritance taxes. It’s a carry over from the king of long ago and there is no reason the state is due any tax on anything when a person dies.
1. Most of the state is losing population, and is in long-term decline. There’s no realistic way to reverse this trend.
2. The state has a structural budget deficit that will never be addressed while Item #1 is in play.
Basically, Pennsylvania needs to attract new businesses and taxpayers in a big way.
Yes.
I am into history Pennsylvania before World War I 36 congressional districts now 17 of them.
A steady decline for over a century now.
I am into history Pennsylvania before World War I 36 congressional districts now 17 of them.
A steady decline for over a century now.
Thanks for the article.
Youngkin understands just how much his state is packed with communist revolutionaries. Oddly, J. Edgar Hoover predicted such revolutionaries in the 1960s.
Thank you. There is no fight in our side. We only have Trump.
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