The Kardashians of Cambria County

 

Ha ha ha!  Made you look.  There are no Kardashians in Cambria County that I know of.  Do you?

I could make this post about how mortality in Cambria County from COVID-19 has been skyrocketing this month (25 deaths since October 28).  However I thought I would comment on how I had to battle fluff in this county and what happens when what I post challenges the conventional wisdom.

Eleven days ago I posted on how Joe Biden won the city of Johnstown by 80 votes. I thought I would share some of the comments that I received on Facebook on that post.  The names are deleted out of respect.

"I can honestly believe that because the poll workers downtown were shady. They actually said who we were and what political party we were for." 

"PA and Arizona have just pulled the win from Joe and Michigan is right behind . Joe is as of now down to 259 electoral vote and NO LONGER THE PROJECTED WINNER."

"Well seeing there is a lot of freeloaders in Johnstown I’m not surprised." 

"Fake News."

"He won Philly by more than that . So what ?" 

"Bozo Joe didn’t win Johnstown Trump took Cambria County."

"82 out of 74 democrats voted for Biden."

"There ain't no way."

"(Name deleted)...excuse you read something watch the waters the democrats or about to go down in history as the most corrupt party joe biden has just become a suspect of treason in another country so like I said watch the water"

"Prolly had under age or dead people lol."

"I would think that is another johnstown, not pa."

I wonder how many of them actually read my post?

Also about my book, the Johnstown Area Heritage Association has refused to sell my book.  They said that because I discussed the statistics surrounding the abuse of children by Catholic Priests and crime statistics which include sexual assault that it was too explicit for children.  I would argue that their holocaust exhibit is more explicit.  I am waiting for an answer on whether the Johnstown National Flood Memorial will sell my book.  The book has been selling at other places such as Classic Elements, Young Hearts Books and Toys, Chameleon Bookstore,  Second Chapter Books in Ligonier and at Made in Somerset County.  I will be having a book signing at AT Merchant on December 5 from noon to 3PM in the Galleria Mall in Johnstown.  Finally you can read an Our Town article on my book here.

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Joe Biden won Johnstown by 80 votes

Four years ago Donald Trump won Cambria County with 66.8% of the vote.  This year he won the county with 67.9%.  Many observers were shocked that he won by such a large margin.  However when one looks at individual precincts a more complex pattern can emerge.  

In 2017, looked at the precinct data for Johnstown and found that Hillary Clinton won the 20 precincts of the city by 83 votes.  This year I took another look at the precincts in the city and found that Biden won the city again by 80 votes.

Ward	Biden		Trump		Other		Diff	Total
	N	%	N	%	N	%
Cambria City	81	46.6%	86	49.4%	7	4.0%	-5	174
Center Town	230	58.2%	159	40.3%	6	1.5%	71	395
18th ward	140	39.1%	207	57.8%	11	3.1%	-67	358
8th ward 1	172	48.9%	173	49.1%	7	2.0%	-1	352
8th ward 3	353	41.2%	485	56.7%	18	2.1%	-132	856
Kernville	150	58.1%	105	40.7%	3	1.2%	45	258
19th ward	208	45.8%	235	51.8%	11	2.4%	-27	454
Old Conemaugh	250	53.8%	208	44.7%	7	1.5%	42	465
Prospect	161	78.9%	42	20.6%	1	0.5%	119	204
7th ward	348	60.1%	224	38.7%	7	1.2%	124	579
21st ward	110	37.2%	183	61.8%	3	1.0%	-73	296
17th ward 1	232	57.1%	169	41.6%	5	1.2%	63	406
17th ward 2	242	48.8%	246	49.6%	8	1.6%	-4	496
17th ward 3	183	46.0%	209	52.5%	6	1.5%	-26	398
17th ward 4	113	44.1%	139	54.3%	4	1.6%	-26	256
20th ward 1	270	43.9%	337	54.8%	8	1.3%	-67	615
20th Ward 2	259	54.0%	215	44.8%	6	1.3%	44	480
Total	3,502	49.7%	3,422	48.6%	118	1.7%	80	7,042

This year there were 17 precincts in the city whereas there were 20 in the city four years ago.  Biden won 7 out of the 17 precincts (highlighted in yellow).  Hillary Clinton won 11 of the 20 precincts.  

When the votes are totaled across the city, Biden won the city by 80 votes out of the 7,042 cast or 1.1%.  This margin is slightly smaller than the margin that Clinton won by (83 out of 6,438 cast or 1.3%).  Biden largest margin was in the seventh ward in terms of the number of votes (124) while for Trump it was in 8th ward number three (132).  Clinton likewise won the 7th ward at 166 while Percentagewise, Biden's best result was in Prospect at 78.9% (it was for Clinton as well at 82.1%) while for Trump it was in the 21st ward at 61.8% (in 2016 he won the 21st with 61.5%).  

There were 118 (1,7% of the total) third party and write ins in the city this year while in 2016 there were 281 in the city (4.4% of the total).  In 2016 there were three third party candidates on the ballot (Green, Constitutional, Libertarian).  This year there was one (Libertarian).

Six hundred and four more people voted this year than in 2016.  The margins in the Trump precincts were closer than in Biden's. The large margins in Biden's precincts were large enough to offset those in the more numerous precincts for Trump.  This city is just as divided as the nation.

**Related Posts**

Hillary Clinton Won Johnstown, PA -- By 83 Votes

Education and Race Account for Outliers in Trump's Vote at the State and PA County Level

Election Reflections: Gains for PA Democrats Outside of Cambria County