Pa. Republicans gaining in voter registrations and partisan identification

Follows a national trend

• Scott LaMar/WITF
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Scott LaMar has worked in both radio and television for more than four decades.
  
  Currently, LaMar is the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  LaMar often emcees or moderates local events and has gone as far as California to emcee a national event.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

 Hannah Yoon / NPR

Ellen Ortt, 81, looks through old voter registration files at the Voter Registration office in the Lehigh County Government Center in Allentown, PA., on Tuesday, September 15, 2020. Ortt is looking to see which files need to be update with a new address or a party switch.

Airdate: Monday, January 31, 2022

More Pennsylvanians identified as Republicans than Democrats in 2021. That’s according to the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster.

F&M polls last year found 47% of the state’s registered voters identifying as Republicans compared 42% as Democrats. In 2020, 47% identified as Democrats and 44% as Republicans.

Nine percent said they were independents in 2021 compared to 7% in 2020.

According to the Center, the greatest gap occurred in August of last year and coincided with the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, increased concerns about inflation and a COVID resurgence.

Berwood Yost, the Director of the F&M Center for Opinion Research is on Monday’s Smart Talk to provide analysis.

The Associated Press and WITF’s democracy reporter Jordan Wilkie are partnering to tell stories about how Pennsylvania elections work, and to debunk misinformation surrounding elections. 

Read the stories here