Southwestern Berks County is clearly Trump Country

by Steve Reinbrecht

Southwestern Berks County is a strong Republican bastion in a state that has gone for Democratic presidents since 1992. It's the kind of place the GOP will need to swing the state toward a path to the presidency.

Almost twice as many voters in Southwestern Berks County [South Heidelberg, Lower Heidelberg, Wernersville, and Sinking Spring] chose Donald Trump than voted for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in the primary elections in April.

Many voters here likely are traditional conservatives. In other parts of the state, Trump is convincing voters -- Democrats or people who generally don't vote -- to support a different kind of Republican.

And winning Pennsylvania could help Trump win the presidency.

Adding up votes in Southwestern Berks in the 2016 primary, Republican candidates Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich together got just more than 3,100 votes.

In the primary, 600 voted for Kasich and 607 voted for Cruz. But Trump has converted the former Cruz supporter from Lower Heidelberg in this Reading Eagle story, who went to the convention.

Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders got just more than 2,100 together.

The area usually has a wide Republican majority.

Sinking Spring and Wernersville voters chose President Obama over John McCain in 2008. Since then, the area has been solidly Republican.

In the last two presidential elections, Southwestern Berks voted for the losing Republican candidate each time.