Amish voters in the upcoming presidential election may be an important demographic in former President Donald Trump winning Pennsylvania.
Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), who grew up Amish, spoke to Fox News about how more Amish had switched from farming to running businesses, and were “becoming much more engaged politically.”
Smucker noted that people in the Amish community “love President Trump” because of “his policies,” adding that they like Trump because he is in favor of small government among many other reasons. The Republican congressman explained that the Amish are “very interested in religious liberty” and are “concerned about the border and economy.”
“You have a minority of the Amish who are now farming, agricultural,” Smucker told the outlet. “They’ve run out of land in Lancaster County a long time ago. So, there’s a new generation of Amish who are business owners, they’re running their very successful businesses — some of them are large businesses. And, so they’re becoming much more engaged politically than their parents were.”
Smucker explained that the Amish people are “known” for having a “great work ethic” and having “really strong family values” and a “strong sense of community.”
“They help one another, they reach out when a member of their community is in need and they all rally around that individual,” Smucker added. “It’s the idea of strong, individual responsibility, a strong family unit, and then a strong local community or local church. And, when you have all that in place, you don’t need a big government, and that’s exactly how the Amish look at that. They take care of their own, and they just don’t want government to interfere with that. We’re seeing a real change in the Amish community, and I think it’s going to continue to change going forward.”
Fox News reported there were roughly 90,000 Amish in Pennsylvania and 84,000 Amish in Ohio, according to “a report” from Elizabethtown College:
A report from Elizabethtown College estimated 90,000 Amish live in Pennsylvania and 84,000 live in Ohio, in addition to sizeable populations in Indiana, Wisconsin, New York and Missouri.
Smucker added that “four years ago” there were between 1,500 to 2,000 “new Amish registrants and new Amish voters” in his district, adding that he believes there will be “thousands more this cycle.”
The outlet noted that former President George W. Bush also courted the Amish vote and met with “Amish leaders without photographers.”
As Breitbart News has previously reported, during the 2020 presidential election, videos and photos of an Amish horse and buggy caravan with Trump and American flags went viral.
The Center Square reported that conservative activist Scott Presler has been encouraging members of the Amish community to vote, informing them that Republicans would “protect” their “raw milk” dairy farming, and their “school choice,” and “religious freedom.”
“To our beautiful Amish in Lancaster in Pennsylvania and across the state, we will protect your raw milk, your dairy, your farming, your school choice, your religious freedom, your ability to have ten beautiful children per family,” Presler said during a Trump rally.