Sen. John Fetterman has insisted he has no plans to leave the Democratic Party, despite continued attempts to sway him.
“I remain strongly pro-choice, pro-weed, pro-LGBT, pro-SNAP, pro-labor and even pro-rib-eye over bio slop,” he wrote in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post in May.
But if he changed his mind, a new poll shows he might have a home in Pennsylvania’s GOP.
Just under half of registered voters in the state approve of how Fetterman is handling his job as a U.S. senator, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
But the vast majority of the first-term Democrat’s support is boosted by voters in the opposing party: 77% of surveyed Republicans said they approve of Fetterman while just 19% of Democrats do.
That’s a higher share of voter support than even Republican Sen. Dave McCormick received from his own party, with 68% of surveyed Republicans approving of his job performance.
The Quinnipiac survey, conducted June 9-13, polled 895 registered Pennsylvania voters and has a 4.3 percentage point margin of error.
Since Fetterman began casting key votes in support of President Donald Trump and publicly criticizing progressives in his party, conservatives have been leaving the door open and, at times, rolling out a welcome mat.
State Sen. Greg Rothman, chair of the Pennsylvania GOP, said he could consider supporting Fetterman’s reelection if he switched parties, and Fox News’ Sean Hannity said Trump himself urged Hannity to coax Fetterman into becoming a Republican in exchange for the president’s support.
Democrats, meanwhile, have mostly taken a hands-off approach. The Pennsylvania Democratic Party has previously declined to comment on Fetterman’s positions and actions, including his new, joint fundraising committee with McCormick. The venture, announced earlier this month, allows them to split money from donors who want to give to both of their campaigns, a boost for Fetterman who has reported raising significantly fewer campaign funds on his own.
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has also avoided directly criticizing Fetterman, but admits their relationship is estranged.
Read more A Delco man who killed two of his co-workers told a judge that he acted in self-defense
In an interview with POLITICO in May, Shapiro said it’s been “probably years” since he’s seen Fetterman at an event in Pennsylvania.
“I’m not saying he hasn’t been at one, but I haven’t seen him and I’m at most things,” he said.
Fetterman was most recently in Philadelphia at an event with McCormick to promote Trump Accounts, the new federally backed savings accounts for kids that became law with President Donald Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
More than half of registered Pennsylvania voters want Fetterman to leave the Democratic Party altogether, according to the Quinnipiac poll.
It’s a figure that represents both push and pull: 57% of Democrats surveyed said they want him to leave, and 55% of Republicans do too. The poll did not ask whether he would be welcomed into the GOP.
“The Democrats would like to show him the door. The Republicans seem to be welcoming him in. Thus is the political irony of Senator John Fetterman,” Tim Malloy, a polling analyst at Quinnipiac, said.
Fetterman, who is likely to face a primary opponent, has not yet disclosed whether he plans to seek a second six-year term in 2028. U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle (D, Philadelphia), Chris Deluzio (D., Allegheny), and former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, a Western Pennsylvania Democrat who lost the Senate primary to Fetterman in 2022, are all considered to be potential contenders.
Malloy called Fetterman’s approval among Republicans “stunningly high.”
“He’s a maverick,” he said. “He is certainly one of the most unique politicians in the country.”
“Being an independent voice that works with the other side to deliver for Pennsylvanians might put me at odds with the party that I have stayed committed to and have no plans to leave — but I will continue to put the commonwealth and the country first,” Fetterman wrote in the Post.