Pennsylvania
Poll: Potential Biden versus Trump race tight in Pennsylvania
A potential rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump has the current occupant of the White House slightly in front in Pennsylvania, a new poll shows.
In the latest edition of the Franklin & Marshall College Poll, which was released today, Biden holds a razor-thin margin over Trump among registered voters.
The poll shows that, if asked to pick today between the two, 43% would opt for Biden and 42% would select Trump. The 1-point gap is well within the poll’s margin of error.
In the last poll, released in October, Biden held a lead of 42% to 40% over Trump.
Biden and Trump are expected to be the nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties and square off in a rematch of the 2020 presidential election.
When the field is expanded to include others who are expected to be on the ballot as third-party candidates, Biden’s lead widens.
After adding Jill Stein and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the question, 42% of registered voters picked Biden and 37% selected Trump.
Kennedy came in third (8%), followed by someone else (7%) and don’t know (5%). Stein finished last at 2%.
The poll showed Biden’s favorability ratings are higher than Trump’s, but neither candidate appears to be particularly well-liked.
More than half (53%) of respondents gave Trump a strongly unfavorable rating, while just under half (45%) gave that rating to Biden.
A total of 41% rated Biden either strongly favorable or somewhat favorable. Trump was rated strongly or somewhat favorable by 39% of registered voters.
One factor in Trump’s low favorability rating is likely his response to the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden.
When asked if his actions following the election represent a serious crime, 59% of respondents said yes. A total of 36% said no, and 5% said they didn’t know.
Biden’s low numbers appear to be tied to people’s feelings about his job performance.
More than half (51%) of respondents rated his job performance as poor, and 16% said he has only done a fair job. Just 33% rated his performance as excellent or good.
When respondents were asked about individual traits of Biden and Trump, the results were a mixed bag.
More people think that Biden understands the concerns of the average American better than Trump, coming in at 40% to 39%. Biden also came out ahead when it comes to whether his views reflect respondents’ views on abortion and same-sex marriage (48% to 36%).
The current president also did better when it comes to questions about judgment and honesty.
A total of 45% said Biden has the character and good judgment needed to be president, outpacing the 32% who said the same about Trump.
And 44% said Biden is the more honest candidate. Only 27% said Trump is more honest.
Trump outpaced Biden in other areas, in particular the economy and the military.
A total of 47% respondents said Trump is more prepared to handle the economy, while only 37% said Biden is better equipped.
And 43% said Trump is the better pick when it comes to handling the job of commander in chief, while 40% said Biden is the better option.
Age continues to be a major concern for registered voters, particularly in regards to Biden.
A total of 84% of voters said Biden, 81, is too old to serve another term, while 48% said Trump, 77, is too old.
Of those who think one or the other candidate is too old to serve another term, 43% said they think both men are too old.
How the poll was conducted
Included in the latest Franklin & Marshall College poll is a detailed explanation of how the survey was conducted:
The survey findings presented in this release are based on the results of interviews conducted Jan. 17-28. The interviews were conducted at the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College on behalf of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs.
The poll was designed and administered by the staff of the Center for Opinion Research. The data included in this release represent the responses of 1,006 registered Pennsylvania voters, including 450 Democrats, 414 Republicans and 142 independents.
The sample of registered voters was obtained from Aristotle. All sampled respondents were notified by mail about the survey. Interviews were completed over the phone and online depending on each respondent’s preference.
Survey results were weighted (age, gender, education, geography and party registration) using an algorithm to reflect the known distribution of those characteristics among state voters. Estimates for age, geography and party registration are based on active voters within the Pennsylvania Department of State’s voter registration data.
The sample error for this survey is 3.6 percentage points when the design effects from weighting are considered.
Pennsylvania
Suspect arrested for shooting near basketball court in Elkins Park, Pa.
ABINGTON TWP., Pa. (WPVI) — Police have arrested a suspect who they say fired shots at a vehicle near a crowded basketball court in Montgomery County.
Jamell Whitmore, 18, of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, was arrested on Thursday.
The shooting happened on March 22 near a basketball court on the 300 block of Cadwalader Avenue in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.
Shooting near Elkins Park basketball courts sends stray bullet into home
Police said multiple callers reported hearing gunfire around 8:15 p.m. and witnessed a large group of people run from the area behind the McKinley Firehouse.
As a vehicle drove by, one of the men in the group, identified by police as Whitmore, ran off to the parking lot to retrieve a gun and began firing multiple shots towards the vehicle.
Police say it’s unclear if the vehicle was hit, but one of the bullets struck a nearby home.
No one in the home was injured.
Police said no innocent bystanders or those involved in the shooting were injured.
The motive for the shooting remains unknown.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania-born indie rockers Tigers Jaw return with new album release
The chorus for the song “Primary Colors” was something Walsh wrote years ago, with the song’s outro originally being used as a verse.
“And something just wasn’t quite clicking, and everything that I tried felt kind of forced,” Walsh said. “We were all just like, ‘Yeah, there’s something here, but it’s not quite doing what I think it has the potential to do.’”
The band then started toying with the dynamics between the verses and the chorus.
“It just unlocked something for me in the idea where I was like, ‘Wow, this kind of quiet, loud, quiet, loud format really works well with this song,’” Walsh said. “So yeah, it just transformed it instantly into an idea that felt a lot stronger.”
The album was recorded with Grammy-winning producer Will Yip, a relationship still budding from their 2014 album, “Charmer.” Collins said the new album’s sound is “as true as we could be to playing the record live.”
“I wasn’t as tied to the tones that have classically been Tigers Jaw because I think at this point, I’ve just come to this realization that no matter what, if we’re making it, it is Tigers Jaw,” Collins said.
The new album has a “palpable energy” that shares the same spirit as their earlier records, Walsh said. And while “tastes evolve,” the band followed “what feels good.”
“This is the best representation of the band at the time, and it’s almost like a snapshot of us as artists, as people, as a creative entity over this time in our career,” he said.
“Lost On You” is out now through Hopeless Records and is available on vinyl, CD and various streaming platforms.
On April 16, Tigers Jaw will perform at Union Transfer at 8 p.m. They will be supported by Hot Flash Heat Wave and Creeks, the solo project of Balance and Composure vocalist and guitarist Jon Simmons, who is from Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania court upends mandatory use of life-without-parole for second-degree murder
What to Know
- Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court says the state cannot automatically give life without parole for felony murder without weighing each defendant’s culpability in the killing.
- The high court on Thursday ordered a new sentencing hearing for Derek Lee over a second-degree conviction, but paused it for four months to give state lawmakers time to consider legislation in response.
- Pennsylvania law has made people liable for second-degree murder if they participated in an eligible felony that led to death. Life with no possibility of parole has been the only possible sentence.
- The court says the current rule treats a lookout the same as the person who kills.
Pennsylvania’s high court on Thursday overturned the use of automatic life sentences without parole for people convicted of second-degree murder, saying it violates the state’s constitutional ban on cruel punishment when imposed without a closer look at the defendant’s specific role and culpability.
The court majority ordered resentencing in the case of Derek Lee, convicted of a 2014 killing in Pittsburgh, but the decision also has implications for others among the roughly 1,000 other inmates currently serving similar second-degree murder sentences.
The court’s order was put on hold for four months to give the General Assembly time to “consider appropriate remedial measures.” In a footnote, the justices said they were ruling on Lee’s sentence and not addressing “questions of retroactivity.”
Prison reform groups hailed it as a landmark decision, while the Allegheny County district attorney’s office said it will follow the court’s order.
Pennsylvania law has made people liable for second-degree murder if they participated in an eligible felony that led to death, and life without parole has been the only possible sentence.
“The mandatory penalty scheme of life without parole for all offenders convicted of second degree murder fails to assess individual culpability regarding the intent to kill, and mandates the same punishment regardless of that culpability,” wrote Chief Justice Debra Todd in the lead opinion. She characterized it as not distinguishing “between the lookout, and the killer who pulls the trigger.”
The state high court’s decision comes after years of advocacy to undo mandatory life without parole sentences both in Pennsylvania and nationally. Nazgol Ghandnoosh of the Washington-based Sentencing Project said she counts 11 states and the federal system as having such laws for that kind of crime, sometimes called felony murder. Several states — California, Colorado and Minnesota — have moved away from that sentencing framework in recent years, she said.
Justice Kevin Dougherty noted in a separate opinion that unlike those convicted of first-degree murder, defendants serving life without parole for second-degree murder have “never been found by a judge or jury to have harbored the specific intent to kill” and may not have had “any involvement whatsoever with the actual killing. He or she does not even have to expect or foresee that a life may be taken.”
Lee’s lawyers had wanted the court to rule that life without parole sentences are unconstitutional for all second-degree murder convictions in Pennsylvania, said Quinn Cozzens, a staff attorney for the Abolitionist Law Center, which helped represent Lee. Instead, the court ruled that trial judges must examine the individual circumstances of a defendant’s case to decide which sentence is most appropriate, including the potential of life without parole.
The state’s public defenders’ association said the ruling will generate new post-conviction litigation and require them to do more investigation as well as develop “strategic litigation” to get the decision to apply retroactively.
A jury convicted Lee of second-degree murder but acquitted him of first-degree murder in 44-year-old Leonard Butler’s shooting death. Butler was shot in a struggle over a gun with Lee’s codefendant, Paul Durham.
Prosecutors argued it should be up to state lawmakers and the executive branch to address the policy issues surrounding second-degree murder sentences. Todd wrote that while the district attorney’s office “acknowledges that there may be persuasive arguments why a non-slayer should not be held to the same degree of culpability as the slayer, it stresses that these are policy decisions for the General Assembly.”
Cozzens urged lawmakers to “address this constitutional violation, given that the court granted them the opportunity to do so.”
Rep. Tim Briggs, a suburban Philadelphia Democrat who chairs the state House Judiciary Committee, said he planned to engage with Senate Republicans on potential legislation in response.
Briggs said he wanted to have decision apply retroactively, to give people serving life “for being the getaway driver” to “have the opportunity to have their facts looked at again.”
“I think inaction leaves a lot of this up to the courts to decide. I don’t feel comfortable doing that,” Briggs said. “We have a policymaking role here.”
Justice Sallie Mundy wrote that Lee “willingly participated in an armed home invasion and robbery, and purposefully engaged in assaultive behavior in the form of tasing and pistol-whipping the victim.” She said Lee and Durham “arguably kidnapped the victims by forcing them into the basement” and it will be up to the county judge to decide if Lee’s life-without-parole sentence is appropriate.
Todd’s opinion, citing an advocacy group, said 73% of those convicted of felony murder in Pennsylvania were 25 or younger when the killing occurred and almost 70% are Black people.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro also responded to the ruling on X.
Today, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole for second degree murder are unconstitutional.
I have long believed this law is unjust and wrong. As Governor, I took legal action in this case arguing to strike down this…
— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) March 26, 2026
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