Polls show Gov. Josh Shapiro is Pennsylvania’s most popular politician

Gov. Josh Shapiro remains Pennsylvania’s most popular elected official after weeks in the national spotlight, recent polls show.

Shapiro remains popular across the board, with two statewide polls released this week showing that the first-term Democratic governor has spent weeks under scrutiny as a possible vice presidential candidate to run alongside Kamala Harris.

Harris, for her part, has taken the lead in the presidential race in statewide opinion polls — some of the first signs of how Harris’ entry into the race has changed the election in Pennsylvania. Harris led former President Donald Trump by about 3 percentage points in two polls released this week — 48% to 46% in Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesdayand 46% to 43% in a Franklin and Marshall College poll released Thursday.

More than half of likely Pennsylvania voters have a favorable opinion of Shapiro, 51,’s job as governor, according to two recent polls. About 51% of voters have a favorable opinion of Shapiro’s job as governor, according to a Franklin and Marshall College poll, and 59% think he’s doing a good job in a Quinnipiac University poll.

Shapiro’s approval ratings outpaced those of other Democrats and Republicans, including Harris, Trump, President Joe Biden, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and Casey’s Republican rival, Dave McCormick. Casey, the incumbent senator, still led McCormick by 8 points in both polls.

Having spent weeks in the partisan spotlight — with media outlets highlighting Shapiro’s stance on Israel, his support for vouchers, his office’s handling of a former aide’s sexual harassment case and more — Shapiro could emerge from the presidential election with his popularity failing, said Berwood Yost, executive director of the Franklin and Marshall College poll.

Instead, Shapiro remains popular here — he has been Pennsylvania’s most popular governor for more than 20 years, at this point in his first term.

“The fact that nothing came of it suggests that the people of Pennsylvania feel the same way they do. [Shapiro]and that’s mostly positive,” Yost said. “He’s still the most popular candidate in the state.”

Yost added that job approval ratings are typically lower than approval ratings, meaning the number of voters who like Shapiro may be higher than the number who already approve of the job he is doing as governor. (Shapiro’s job approval ratings were slightly higher than his approval ratings in the Quinnipiac poll.)

Shapiro is expected to see a national boost in popularity as he establishes himself as a popular Democratic governor in one of the most critical swing states. But his continued national popularity will also help him as a top surrogate for Harris and her vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and he hopes to carry the state for them.

Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,738 likely voters by phone Aug. 8-12, and the poll has a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points. Franklin and Marshall College surveyed 920 registered voters by phone or online July 31-Aug. 11 and had a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.

Shapiro is scheduled to speak at the Democratic National Convention next week.