A lot of people don’t realize that Pennsylvania is fifth in Jewish population, after New York, California, Florida, and New Jersey. We also have the most KKK propaganda coming out of our state. So that’s a weird dichotomy of extremes. Any sort of nuance will quickly tip the scales to one side or the other, and it’s easy to get the stink of anti-Semitism on anything less than full-throated support of Israel.
That’s not to say I think Shapiro is being insincere. I believe he would join the IDF and fight for Israel, which I agree is alarming. But I don’t think it hurts the ticket nationally, and in fact I think it will get more votes than it costs. That’s just where the voting public is at right now. There aren’t that many people who oppose Netanyahu who say they will stay home.