Harper Polling: Our Commonwealth Poll - July 2025
Harper Polling’s Our Commonwealth Poll Returns for the 4th of July —with Baseball, Amusement Parks, Convenience Store Wars, and Scrapple.
After hiatus, Harper Polling is back with its Pennsylvania public poll about the Commonwealth’s culture and peculiarities. Ahead of Independence Day, we asked Pennsylvanians about the food they love, the teams they root for, and the aliens they’ll contact.
You can find a link to all of the data for the poll at the bottom of this page.
In our survey, 43% of Pennsylvanians say burgers 🍔 are their #1 Independence Day food, nearly double the number who chose hot dogs 🌭 (22%).
Watermelon 🍉 (11%) and corn on the cob 🌽 (10%) round out the top four.
PA Republicans are more partisan in favor of burgers but aren’t looking forward to a hot dog as much as PA Democrats.
Pennsylvania’s Boomers are twice as likely to prefer iced tea as our Zoomers—who are 3x more likely to pick a cocktail.
Men are 4x more likely to go for a beer while women are 3x more likely to prefer a cocktail.
Cheers to that.
When Pennsylvanians celebrate Independence Day, 71% will fire up a grill 🌭 and 67% will watch fireworks 🎆 making them PA's top two Fourth of July traditions.
Among other holiday activities, swimming is most popular in Erie (helps to be on a lake), parades are most popular in State College, and a baseball game is a bigger hit in Pittsburgh.
44% of Pennsylvanians say the Philadelphia Phillies are their favorite baseball team, easily outpacing the Pittsburgh Pirates (25%).
Trailing far behind are out-of-state teams like the New York Yankees (8%), Baltimore Orioles (3%), and New York Mets (3%).
The Yankees narrowly trail the Phillies in the Scranton/Northeast. Loyalties are most divided in South Central PA with the Mets and Orioles gaining their largest support.
The Yankees and Mets have more supporters among residents who moved to PA.
Whether it’s the boardwalk or the mountain air, summer means escape—and Pennsylvanians know where they’re headed.
28% name the Jersey Shore 🏖️ as their favorite vacation destination, topping the list ahead of Maryland’s Eastern Shore 🌊 (15%), the Poconos 🚤 (14%), Delaware’s beaches 🏖️ (11%), and Upstate New York 🏕️ (9%).
A sweet victory for Central PA as 31% of Pennsylvanians name Hersheypark as their favorite amusement park in the state.
Knoebels (18%) has grown in popularity over the last decide. Family owned since 1926 (someone has a big birthday coming up), Knoebels is the largest free-admission amusement park in the U.S.
Over a decade ago, we started the popularization of Pennsylvania’s unique convenience store culture. Bred as a Sheetz loyalist at 102 E. Main St. in Waynesboro, turned Wawa stalwart from our 20s spent in Philly, the debate is in our DNA.
In 2014, Wawa outpaced Sheetz by 2%, a narrow edge that persisted in subsequent years. Since then, it’s been a fierce battle among chains to secure locations (sometimes across the street from one another).
Our data shows that Wawa has been steadily padding its lead as 41% of Pennsylvanians picked Wawa as their top stop.
A deep dive on scrapple data reveals a bridge between the state’s rural and urban divide.
The misconception about scrapple, beside what’s in it, is that scrapple is exclusively a delicacy of rural PA.
In fact, scrapple is most popular in Philadelphia, followed by the Lehigh Valley and South Central PA.
Oddly, each region’s version of scrapple looks and tastes very distinct. Though ingredients necessarily remain a mystery.
If it’s on a long roll, is it a Sub or Hoagie? Depends where you live in PA.
While 67% call it a “hoagie,” geography matters. Philly or Pittsburgh crown “hoagie” as the winner but vast swaths of the state call it a “sub.”
75% of native-born Pennsylvanians say hoagie compared to just 49% of those who moved here.
Pittsburgh’s “Yinz” has reached broad cultural awareness. A devolved iteration of “You-uns” (another grammatical masterpiece), “yinz” is purely regional dialect.
Outside of Pittsburgh, “You guys” is the primary way to reference a group of people.
“Ya’ll” is particularly popular among younger Pennsylvanians and in State College, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia.
When asked which conspiracy theory is their favorite, 3-in-10 Pennsylvanians picked UFOs and aliens being hidden by the government.
Younger people and liberals are intrigued by Princess Diana being murdered by the royal family while conservatives are more likely to pick JFK being assassinated by the CIA.
The Illuminati controlling world events is more appealing to Independents than either Republicans or Democrats.
A third of Pennsylvanians expect to make contact with aliens in their lifetime.
Belief is strongest among those under 45 years of age.
Moderates are more likely than either conservatives or liberals to be believers.
Sheetz loyalists are more likely than Wawa stalwarts to believe our contact with aliens is coming.
Fall Is the Favorite Season in the Keystone State
Fall’s popularity (43%) is highest in the Pittsburgh/Southwest and Scranton/Northeast regions.
Only in the Erie/Northwest and Harrisburg/South Central region is Spring more popular than Summer.
While Winter (5%) has few fans in PA, it gets a boost in State College/North Central. We Are!