So much the same, but so much different, in this Pennsylvania election year
ERIE, Pennsylvania — The signs of normalcy at first glance are everywhere when you breeze past the entrance to Presque Isle State Park along the shores of the great lake from which this town draws its name.
Two dinettes that have been serving locals and travelers for generations, Sara's and Sally's, are bustling, as cars and pedestrians line up for milkshakes, foot-long hot dogs, and a heaping basket of fried perch.
Across the street at Waldameer Park, one of the oldest amusement parks in the country, the roller coaster whizzes past as children's voices carry through the air while they wait in line to descend from one of the 15 different water slides.
Yet, if you look closer, you can see the changes. Everyone going to Sara's in a car must drive up to place orders. Pedestrians and cyclists use the walk-up ordering service. Everyone eats outside instead of enjoying the iconic diner's multiple displays of Americana inside.
At Waldameer, the traditional part of the old trolley park has parkgoers wearing masks. Those on the water slides do not, but they are spaced far apart.
Head due south from the park along state route 832, and the road goes from commercial to more residential, then suburban, then wooded, and eventually, farmland rolls along both sides of the two-lane road.
It is difficult to find a house that doesn't have an American flag somewhere in the yard, and the Trump 2020 signs start almost immediately past the shopping district. They are frequent (often more than two in a yard) and are often homemade or oversized.
It seems a lot like 2016 at first glance.
Even as you turn onto state route 98 heading towards Meadville, the signs in the yards only increase. Yes, there is one Biden sign, then two, then more, but still far less by the hundreds than Trump, but far more than Hillary Clinton ever had. The trend stays that way onto U.S. 19 as it continues due south through the rural valleys, middle-class suburbs, and wealthy enclaves and cities, all the way to where the state line passes into Mount Morris, West Virginia.
Look closer, though, and you can see the changes. Truth be told, there are far more Trump signs than there were in 2016, even though there were a lot of Trump signs in 2016. Nonetheless, there is a deeper change that leaves you perplexed as to where this election is heading for the next 80-plus days.
First, a continuation of the visuals: There are a lot of small businesses closed out here, some with signs thanking people for their business while saying they are closing for good, some with signs that are hopeful about coming back, and some boarded up. Then, there are those that look as if they turned the lights out on March 20 fully expecting to be there the next day and just gave up hope along the way, never coming back.
Summer camps that would ordinarily be filled with children learning independence and new skill sets, coming of age in the process, have shuttered signs on them. High school students, who were out running track or practicing lacrosse or soccer in fields along the highway, by Thursday had found out that Gov. Tom Wolf recommended the cancellation of all school sports statewide.
The closure will deprive the children the lessons from being part of a team, from learning to earn their way off of the bench, to the glory of winning, to the importance of working together for a common goal. Never mind those endorphins that interact with the receptors in their brains when children are running or swimming or swinging a bat, triggering positive feelings in the body that reduce depression, stress, and anxiety.
All of this change is coming because of a deadly pandemic that has robbed people of their lives, separated family members from each other, isolated our elderly, and spread fear, distrust, and instability alongside the virus. The very masks we wear to keep us safe have become symbolic of our challenges to connect emotionally with each other. Worse, the riots and cultural shifts have only spread our trust in each other and institutions further apart.
It is hard to say how these changes will affect the election this year. Most polls and data show presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with a commanding lead.
The former vice president is benefiting from several things: a rival whose win-at-all-costs comportment often leaves him at odds with the very voters he needs to earn, a press seemingly unwilling to press him on critical issues, his handlers' insistence on him rarely interacting from his basement, and the curators of our culture in multiple industries wanting nothing to do with four more years of Trump.
There is one thing that is for certain: While at first glance things might look the same way they did four years ago, the reality is that we are anything but the same
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