c-span campaign coverage continues. vice president pence speaks at a campaign rally in flagstaff arizona at 2:00. easter. sen. kamala harris makes a campaign stop in houston, texas. ae hoover institution hosts discussion with china and its rations with the u.s. president trump will hold a campaign rally in rochester, minnesota. >> four days before election day, lindsey graham faces his democratic opponent in a debate. the coverage begins to at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. washingtonk's journal has been focusing on key data ground states this year. analysts on the ground, examining what has

changed since for a 16. and what public policy issues are motivating voters this year, and giving clues to what we should expect and a few days. today, we will look at the common wealth of pennsylvania. we are hearing today from julian routh who is covering the campaign coverage of pittsburgh post-gazette. what has pennsylvania decided with the ballots? court: the supreme actually shut down what republicans were trying, which is to strike on the three day extension for mail in about. they failed once, and they failed again last night. justice polito potentially left it open. it is most be, likely after the election. in preparation, the pennsylvania secretary of state said that sector going to devise a -- a separation at the center of this. it is kind of precautionary,

back the same time, it is probably smart, and i talked to legal experts yesterday, he said that these ballots should be segregated. there could be legal challenges after this as well. the supreme court decision last night was remarkable, and the way that justice alito said that he believes there is a highlight this deadline extension was unconstitutional. that they did not have the time to rule before the election. greta: just as amy coney barrett did not participate in this decision in pennsylvania and north carolina. let's back up. what were republicans trying to do by bringing this before the supreme court with days to go, and both incidents? republicans were sort of bringing wishlist to several different courts around pennsylvania. this effort had failed originally, the bid asked supreme court to take this issue

of and basically strike down the state supreme court ruling which extended this deadline originally. this split was four-four, before amy coney barrett was confirmed. after that split, the republicans went back to the supreme court again and asked the supreme court to expedite this matter. that is what republicans last the theye for, and cannot do this quickly. the election is only six days away. greta: what about be protesting that we are seeing in philadelphia, over the shooting, and what could this impact have on voting? julian: the impact on voting is interesting. i'm not exactly sure of the impact on the electorate at this point. other than us knowing that law and order is the second biggest issue in one reputable hole

recently. that poll said that joe biden is more trustworthy on law and order. i would say during the primary election, there were protests. there were not as inflammatory, these are more intense. i think that there is fear among county election officials that this could disrupt the administration of the election, which is obviously frightened by the influx of mail-in ballots and so many other things. i think that it is still to be determined. we are on the western side of the state. i think that it is something to pay attention to. ofta: what is the state early voting in pennsylvania, and how will it work on election night? toian: early voting had come an end this past tuesday, because that was the deadline in pennsylvania to apply for a mail-in ballots. pennsylvania was letting you go to your county election offices and do an all in one stop,

apply, thought your balance, and return it again. that came in and. there was amazing turnout for that. mail-in ballots themselves being dropped off, there been more than 1.8 million returned. 3 million had applied. on election night, it comes to countany counties will pre- those ballots or how many will wait to the following morning. the secretary of state here says that it could be a matter of days before we get reparable results or an overwhelming majority of results. there are a lot of questions to answer there. greta: if you look at what happened in 2016, president trump got a victory in pennsylvania. president beat the former secretary of state by thousands of votes. what is it looking like right now? julian: in my expert opinion,

but i am no expert on polling at this point. who knows what we could see. hillary clinton lead in the polls before the election in 2016. it is certainly tightening, and it is tightening in a way that i do not think donald trump will win by that many votes. i think it will be closer. biden certainly has the edge and polling, i would give it mostly to the democrat strategy. democrats were extremely disappointed that hillary clinton had not visited counties outside of the urban areas. joe biden, though he has not been able to campaign traditionally, has definitely put more resources on the ground and some of those rural areas, some of those smaller counties. that, without strategy, if it pays off, we could see an extremely close election, and joe biden is probably reading right now.

again, democrats are very concerned of the secret trump vote. the has even shown up and polling here. greta: in what way? julian: there was a reputable poll done ahead poll democrats and over 50% had said the they had either known or assumed that people who they had known were voting for trump but not telling them. there are worried on election day, people who they know in their own lives, who may have been hesitant to talk about their support for trump, they think are going to go vote for them. julian: greta: where do each of these candidates have their stronghold in the state of pennsylvania when you look at a map? julian: if you look at a map, this is the state of political moderation. geographically very dark blue areas, philadelphia on the east and

pittsburgh on the west. the smaller counties, have been traditionally blue are now more purple. trump has had an ability to connect with those people in 2016. the rest of the state is pretty red. there are pockets here and there like erie county, were traditionally blue working-class have been democrats. it is an interesting state geographically because most candidates can make their appeals to both sets of those voters besides maybe trump in philadelphia. in terms of the rural, red and the counties that are purple, joe biden has been able to go in there and say, donald trump has said that he would remember you. and he forgot. i am the one who will actually remember you. that is sort of the geographical makeup. it is an extremely interesting state for 20 electoral votes.

join the want you to conversation this morning. here are the phone lines. if you support others and your undecided, here's that number. we have a fourth line for pennsylvania voters. we want to hear from residents. now, julian routh, on election night, where will there be early signs that one candidate is headed to victory in pennsylvania? in pennsylvania, counties are not allowed to tally the mail-in ballots until 8:00 p.m. that day. they are not allowed to open envelopes can be seen, getting them ready until seven clock a.m. on election day.

those talks on the legislator stalled. the republicans wanted to morph things with residency requirements. the governor was not willing to sign. because of that, you are not going to see an incredible amount of mail-in ballots being tallied right away. there could be a decent amount by maybe 1:00 a.m. in the morning. i think that when the polls closed and you start to see the end person voting come in, and democrats are expecting donald trump to have a lead and that. depending on whether or not

turnout in 2016? the turnout was really great for the most part. it was the suburbs, allegheny county where you saw the biggest turn out increases at the time. a lot of democrats who grew up in democratic families, those were the ones that switched republicans. turnout is no worry for democrats in philadelphia and pittsburgh. it is probably going to be a lot greater. we will go to john.

caller: if you want lower taxes, less regulation, more public safety. for president trump. it is common sense. if you support criminals and rioting and looting and savagery in big cities, you are going to vote for biden and kamala harris. with regards to pennsylvania, philadelphia -- they have a strong reputation for corruption. i go there a lot for business trips. i see it, i hear it. massive democratic party corruption taking place in philadelphia. nobody is allowed to address it or eliminated.

guest: president trump has made that case. in the debate stage, he said bad things happen in philadelphia. republicans have been saying it for a while. i cannot report to you much in the inner workings of the city. when he said bad things happen in philadelphia, he was referring to poll watchers denied entry into satellite offices. will argue they are not like traditional places. trump saying bad things happen and poll watchers are not allowed, poll watchers are allowed in philadelphia, they have to be certified. warningsome of these

are misguided. iron river, michigan. caller: one of the things that disturbs me, when we watched throughout the summer what was happening in these big cities, i don't understand why philadelphia and pittsburgh did not ring in national guard and law enforcement in the first place. ent in the first place. it is really interesting to find out who is responsible for telling police officers to stand down and not to draw their weapons? i mean, to me it is ridiculous. people are dying, businesses are being destroyed. and the city officials are sitting back on their hands allowing it to happen because they are -- because their complacency. host: you talked about a pole. you mentioned this briefly at the top, that past voters, i

assume it asked likely voters about who they trust more on law enforcement. what pole was this? guest: i think this might have been the mullen bird pole, or l.e monmouth pol it surveyed voters on their most important issues, and law & order came up and i think was the second-highest behind health care, covid-19, and then the , fory asked participants registered voters to indicate who they trusted more on law & order. joe biden won that by three or four points. i will push back on one thing the caller said, which is in pittsburgh, the democratic mayor has actually been criticized, had been criticized during the protests earlier this year for deploying police too much, for the police response in general, who thought that it was too intense. i think that goes against the

fact that people are saying that -- the onetic mayor who has been criticized for it. host: howard in philadelphia. good morning, greta. supporting the president, go ahead. i live in northeast put althea, and people need to recognize that there are major -- there is major support for president trump in north philadelphia, in other pockets of the city. it is not getting reported, it is not getting recognized by any of the media. we are out there having rallies in northeast philadelphia for president trump. should know that pennsylvania is a numbers game. 2016ry won pennsylvania in by 565,000 votes. 105 thousand in philadelphia.

she started with a 460,000 vote lead. yes, there is corruption in philadelphia, but i'm telling you right now, president trump will have major, major support in the city. it is not just the downtown areas, it is not just certain sections. philadelphia is the largest voting bloc in the city, and everyone will come out and they will support president trump. one more thing to say, somebody needs to start talking about hunter biden's laptop. it is ridiculous that this is not getting attention. nbc, and there is tons of corruption. c-span needs to report on it. host: julian routh, his comments about north philadelphia and support for the president there.

calleri don't think the is wrong at all, and i think we're seeing the same thing in western pennsylvania, which is the media at large when they come into town here will say that pennsylvania is going to sweep joe biden into the white house in this p wave, this wave against donald trump. but i think donald trump support has been extremely visible in the suburbs, especially in allegheny county and up or from here in heery county. i have done a lot of reporting on it. at the same time, you have to preface that by saying that donald trump's support has been visible. joe biden supporters and joe citedhimself have covid-19 mitigation and precaution is the reason they are not showing support and rallying and having big crowds. while i agree that donald trump has that support -- and it might be more than anybody thinks -- but joe biden maybe hasn't gotten the chance to prove how much support he's had.

ohio,columbiana, supporting the president. hi, justin. and becausecalling you have a guest on who is talking about joe biden making states more purple, union labor towns and whatnot. i am from columbiana, ohio, and that is right on the western border of pennsylvania. i am a working class man. that -- i believe that biden has gotten pushed more into this -- into the cities, and trump support is closing in on him a little bit. a very good story that we get around here on i like to call it the inauthenticity of joe biden. is the delphi retirees that we hear a lot about in the youngstown area.

it is a very good example on how mr. biden really could not care less until he needs something constituents or the voters or whatnot. it kind of really breaks my heart, because i love everything the times we see america come together. usually in the face of tragedy, and it is terrible to see it like that, but everything is so divisive. i see a bigger divide in the democrat party than i do with anything else. it's almost like they are running under a banner of unity against everything they hate. they are running on a platform of hatred, and it is disguised as unity. it is sad. let's hear from helen in las vegas next, supporting the president. hi.er:

i just want to mention that the things are being said by trump is not true. because i followed him four years-plus. thought that ever -- aboutld continually biden and sleepy joe that he mentions. he was going to be out of the white house. they were going to do things because of the things that he did wrong. they talked about it. that's all they ever did. of taxes, because of everything else. he lives in a house, his getaway house, they call it.

never pays taxes on it. we did. states that he has two or loose his own money to run, campaign? so two callers who talk like they don't like the other guy. oft is the likability factor these two candidates in pennsylvania? isst: the likability factor -- you know, it is a little starker than in 2016 because they called joe biden pennsylvania's third senator. he is very well-liked around here, and donald trump is not very well-liked. put too much stock into that. i mentioned before that this is a bastion of political areration, and people here

left -- congress members, senators who are sort of above the fray politically -- pat toomey is the perfect example. pat toomey has been a guy who went to the senate and not called out president trump but also not exactly supported him. is a perfect example of the type of legislator that pennsylvania likes, and they sent to congress somebody who is likable. that is going to be a huge determinative factor of who wins the election. int: let's hear from gary agnes. who is there, is it jeff? caller: yes, ma'am. host: yes. supporting biden. caller: i know they used to produce a lot of gas up there. safe,e says fracking is

so fracking is say. i don't know how we are going to do away with fracking and heard the whole industry. host: let's talk about fracking, julian routh. how is that playing out in pennsylvania? guest: that is such a great question. republicans and donald trump, that is a huge selling point right now. if been holding campaign calls in pennsylvania frequently to tear apart joe biden's position, energy position, and promote american energy and independence because pennsylvania is the second-largest natural gas producing state in the country. republicanstime, and donald trump have exaggerated some points of the impact of a fracking band. donald trump's campaign recently said there are 609,000 fracking jobs in pennsylvania. he said that in fracking there are 30,000 to 50,000 jobs, so nowhere near as many in the fracking industry. about treatment

all day, and the number could grow. biden hase time, joe had to clarify his position so many times on this and was just not clear with voters for months on this issue. trump has been playing that video compilation of biden talking on this at his recent rally. it is an important issue in pennsylvania. not sure how important it is to the regular voter who is not in that industry, but at the same time it is something that trump is not focused on much in the last couple of days of the campaign. host: we are talking about the battlegroundhost: what are your? caller: myhost: what are your t? caller:our screen. you can see what it was in september, 8.1%. linda in michigan.

supporting the president. hi, linda. caller: good morning. i have been watching what's going on in the news. i studied it like i have never studied it before. ,hat's going on in philadelphia applies to fracking. everybody knows joe biden and tv, saidn tape come on they were against fracking, they were going to stop fracking. , she sayshe past year york he is waiting for biden to get in so she can stop fracking by 2015. they will be a spiderweb effective fracking get stopped. it will be a trickle-down effect. people in philadelphia need to pay attention not to what they

hear about what they see. the facts. like when they show him saying i am not for fracking. host: we heard that. julian? guest: linda is right. tape not been on exactly embracing the idea of fracking. i have to say his campaign has clarified his position is to ban new oil and gas permits on federal land. most of the fracking done in pennsylvania is on private land. a big majority of it. it left a lot of voters confused about the topic. donald has seized on it. there is no question joe biden wants to transition. banning fracking his first days in office is not true. said,den campaign has

again, he does not embrace fracking. i think it is fair to say. we will see how that plays with voters. host: where would that play with voters? what parts of pennsylvania should people be watching? guest: western pennsylvania in particular. northeastern pennsylvania as well. on the border of pennsylvania and ohio there is a lot of places. the industry is well embraced. host: what about erie county? itst: it's important because was a blue county for a long time, up until donald trump came there and spoke about revitalizing prosperity and bringing back the steel industry. lost a n -- notoriously biggest steel mills and they have been feeling the effects for decades. trump said i am bringing all

this stuff back. prosperity is coming back to erie. they believed him. that's important to see if they believe him again. trump has been making these cases he's going to bring prosperity next year, post covid, and bring back the economy. says he forgot you the first time and i will be the one to remember you. erie county is so indicative of the profiles that swung the 2016 election. we will see if it does it again. host: anthony, supporting joe biden. caller: thank you for taking my call. one of your last -- i think we live in two different realities sometimes. democratico say reality is so much more accurate. your last caller said things like cnn is not covering the

biden laptop issue. who cares about it? there is no evidence there that there was any wrongdoing whatsoever. you turn on fox news, they very rarely mention the tragedy of this virus. just like they did with hillary clinton in benghazi, they just pound this laptop story every time you turn on fox. the laptop, the laptop, the laptop. it is ridiculous for voters to look at the coverage and say, well, fox and all of am talk radio is being fair and balanced. cnn and emison bc are not. that is just ridiculous -- msnbc are not. when people say biden is lying ,bout fracking and other things locale trump lied -- look at how trump lied.

it is on and on and on. not to mention the record high debt. everybody was up in arms about the record high debt when obama was president. they look at the record high trade deficit. the tax policy failed to help american voters. that is what is important. improve thething to health care of americans. this is what people are looking at. pennsylvania voters are smart and not going to fall to the playbook of the article things like laptops. host: anthony mentioned several issues. julian routh, from your reporting, what are some of the top issues voters care about and is motivating them to show up to either already vote or show up on election day? guest: besides the ones we have talked about that do include things like law and order and

even fracking, i think the biggest issues on people's minds are who was going to better handle the covid-19 pandemic and the survival of the affordable care act, no matter which side you are on. senator bob casey has been warning democrats and sounding the alarm for months saying that they should be telling voters the survival of the affordable care act and protecting people with pre-existing conditions is very much on the ballot. it is something that will play well here. health care, he is right in saying that is important given the confirmation of amy coney barrett and the way the courts have changed the last couple of years. covid-19 continues to hit this state very hard. it is in the top 10 of most deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. cases are researching again.

the secretary of health said we should be prepared and we are not rounding the corner. those issues are extremely important. it is really a melting pot of the political universe here. host: another headline. the pennsylvania health secretary cautions against even small holiday gatherings as covid-19 cases continued to soar. jeff from pennsylvania supporting the former vice president. you are on the air. caller: good morning. how are you this morning? host: what are your thoughts? caller: my wife is being discriminated against because of disabilities to getting a voting ballot. no one will do anything about it. host: discrimination for voting in what way? caller: they claim they mailed her a valid the 13th of the ofth -- ballot the 13th

october. we don't have it. they told her to come in tomorrow and fill in -- there is no way to get her into the poll. these are republican-controlled voting districts. -- making alling kinds of claims. there is no accommodation for her situation. host: julian routh, any o thoughts -- any thoughts? guest: i would like to do reporting on that topic,. access to the n email, me a that would be great. the overwhelming focus is the distribution of mail-in ballots and getting people to return them. there are a lot of people doing good work on this. it is something that will decide the election. host: larry, you support the

president in tennessee. good morning. caller: i do support our president. i have heard a lot of talk about the laptop. that is a big deal to this country. the gentleman before, i would like to tell him to do a little more research and to look at the man who was an eyewitness sitting beside the vice president of the united states making deals with china. i used to be democrat. in the last eight years i have changed to a cold-blooded republican. partys not the democratic that me and my mother went and worked on for 20 years. not even close. i hope to god this country sees what is going on. host: ok, larry. democratsth, how many

president trump convinced to vote for him and 2016? 2016? guest: it is hard to quantify the amount of the phenomenon we are talking about. i don't have the numbers but i will say democrats do believe that was very much enough to swing the election to donald trump and give him that 44,000-vote margin. trump talked about in the last four years and before 2016 saying this is not your grandfather's democratic party, which has been shared down ballot in pennsylvania. it is making an impact. whether we can quantify that in 2016, i would have to look. it was probably enough to swing the election. host: crystal in philadelphia. you support the biden-harris ticket? caller: the caller from michigan

um,d philadelphia needs to, open their eyes and stop listening to what is said. i am here. don't be telling me from michigan was going on in philadelphia. the guy down in florida i theeve talked about problems we are having in philadelphia. yeah, we have problems. laptops. you try to make something up like you beat hillary up over it. philadelphia, look, biden says we need the police to be more respectful and do safety stuff. the way they handled that boy with the knife coming after the police, shoot him in the leg. you don't have to shoot him 14 times. gun laws. why do you need to be buying 50 guns in pennsylvania? it doesn't make any sense.

you have to have some kind of control. sensible controls. you guys out there keep drinking the kool-aid that lying president keeps putting out here. -- just the way he is trying to lead the whole country, we have to get some sensible controls with health care, with gun laws, with policing. who is there to help us and protect us? i love police. the guy in the northeast. he might be having rallies on his block. i live in northeast philadelphia. he can stop with the nonsense. you have your pockets of people allowing the proud boys. we are going to stand out in the rain. day but we wet for a are not going to get soaked for another four years with this guy. , let's talk routh about gun issues in pennsylvania.

the second amendment and those that would like to see some reform. how does that play out and where? guest: i think it plays out in a couple of ways. i want to mention this week marked the two-year anniversary of the tree of life massacre, the worst anti-semitic attack on u.s. soil in history. it happened in pittsburgh. that sparked a lot of calls for change to gun laws that never happened. that is different than the topic of talking about protecting the second amendment in the rural counties that matter so much. there is a lot of important second amendment here. that is clear. to help gun laws impacted the election, i'm not sure. there have been so many issues that have taken precedence in pennsylvania. you see it in poland all the time. gun laws and gun control might have come up on those surveys. they are not right now.

it is something that i don't have too much of a grasp on at this point. host: you can follow julian routh's reporting if you go to post-gazette.com. thank you very much for your untilh five days left election day, on november 3 when voters decide who will control congress and occupy the white house, stay with c-span. watch campaign 2020 coverage in every day. or listen on the c-span radio app. your place for an unfiltered view of politics. >> c-span's washington journal, we are taking your calls live in the air in the news the day and we will discuss policy issues

that impact you. friday morning, we will examine this year's congressional campaign in north carolina. also joining the program, david mcclendon, professor of political science and director l ande meredith pol meredith college. watch washington journal. be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, text messages, and tweets. >> coming up live friday, campaign coverage continues with vice president pence speaking in flagstaff, arizona. joe biden speaks to supporters in st. paul, minnesota committee: 45 settler -- minnesota. and kamala harris makes a

campaign stop. 6:00, president trump holding a campaign rally. >> south carolina republican senator lindsey graham thesis is democratic opponent in a debate. live coverage begins friday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. harris joinedala a virtually event hosted by senator bernie sanders focused on raising wages. this is in an hour. sen. sanders: good evening and thank you for joining us for what i think is going to be a very interesting discussion. let me thank the workers that have participated in that video and our panelists. you're going to hear from them in a few moments. i don't have to a