Area that hosted Trump rally could prove pivotal in 2024 election

livemint.com:

BUTLER, Pa.—The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump occurred in a largely rural slice of western Pennsylvania that in many ways typifies the regions Trump is leaning on for strong support in the coming election. Butler County, the site of Saturday’s Trump rally, and the surrounding area are home to an economy that has swung significantly in recent decades. The shift, from the decline of steel and manufacturing jobs to the rise of the natural-gas fracking industry, has left many workers displaced and unsettled.

The county is part of a ring of exurbs and rural areas surrounding Pittsburgh that have grown more Republican in recent decades, and could hold the key to the ballot in Pennsylvania, the largest 2024 swing state. “This is Trump country,’’ said Jondavid Longo, the mayor of Slippery Rock, a borough in the county. “There are lots of farmers here, lots of hunters.

It’s a very strong faith-based community.’’ Longo said the image of Trump raising his fist after being grazed by a bullet typified the attitude of area residents and would resonate strongly in the region. “These communities typically lean conservative in their political identification," he said. They “lean very hard on this idea of a fierce independence and not backing down." Decades ago, Pittsburgh and its surrounding counties were largely unified in a single economic and political ecosystem of industry, unions and Democratic leadership.

Then steel collapsed, with big job losses coming in the 1980s. The region started shedding population. At the time of its likely peak in 1952, manufacturing employed about 379,000 people and accounted for 40% of all jobs in the region, according to regional economist Chris Briem of the University of