The Amish in Pennsylvania are an important but hesitant voting bloc; Urgent issues could benefit Trump, some say

Pennsylvania's election is likely to be finally decided on Tuesday, meaning support from the commonwealth's sizeable but traditionally private Amish community could make a difference.

The Amish-Mennonite community has long been a reliably conservative group due to its deep faith, modesty, and reluctance to engage with aspects of contemporary societal norms such as driving and cell phone use.

Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., the first Amish-born member of Congress, said he is seeing real change recently.

“There is a minority of Amish people who farm now. They ran out of land in Lancaster County a long time ago. So there’s a new generation of Amish who are business owners,” he said.

Activist speaks about Amish vote

Rep. Lloyd Smucker (Getty)

“So they are much more politically involved than their parents.”

According to a report from Elizabethtown College, 90,000 Amish live in Pennsylvania and 84,000 in Ohio, in addition to significant populations in Indiana, Wisconsin, New York and Missouri.

Smucker said there are 1,500 to 2,000 new voters in his district who are Amish, adding he expects thousands more voters to cast ballots this cycle.

Two former presidents — George W. Bush and Donald Trump — actively polled the community, which by and large does not vote due to privacy concerns.

Bush visited Smoketown during the 2004 campaign and met with Amish leaders without photographers out of respect for religious customs.

With the exception of Democrat James Buchanan, a Greencastle native and Lancaster city resident, Bush was the first president since George Washington to visit at least twice during his term.

crisscrossing Pennsylvania to register voters, Presler sees counties turning red

Amish Trump supporters (Getty)

“We hate the issue of abortion,” a farmer named Sam Stoltzfus told The Associated Press during Bush's visit. “You could hold up a dead mouse with an 'I love Bush' sign and we'd probably still think twice about trampling that mouse.”

In contrast to Bush's quiet visit, Trump held a loud rally in Manheim in 2016. Men in traditional Amish garb sat throughout the venue cheering the mogul's pitch and criticism of Hillary Clinton.

Addressing criticism that Trump's New York bombast doesn't suit the humble Lancaster, Smucker said many Amish “love” Trump because of his small-government platform.

Because faith is at the heart of Amish life, they also value Trump's own focus on religious freedom. That focus, he said, also reflects the priorities of many other Conservatives outside of Lancaster.

Smucker said that while Bush and Trump drew most of the Amish's attention, the Amish were very politically active in the 1950s, when mandatory age-appropriate schooling was an issue for youth, who often returned to farming.

These days, Trump signs hang on some farms and occasionally on a horse-drawn wagon that travels “Bird-in-Hand” down the Old Philly Pike.

On many Fridays, Republican activist Scott Presler registered voters at the Green Dragon Farmers Market in Ephrata, where he told Fox News Digital that the Amish he interacted with were very vocal supporters of Trump.

In a tweet, Presler also referenced Democratic officials investigating Amish farmer Amos Miller over his raw milk sales. The case drew national attention from lawmakers like Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who called the litigation “shameful.”

Donald Trump Jr. also criticized a raid on Miller's property, saying he “can't be the only one sick of this shit.”

Asked whether the administration's battles with Miller had sparked new political enthusiasm, Smucker said other dairies had found ways to comply with the law, but the intervention in Miller's business had not been well received.

“Yes, Amos Miller was a good example of that. But there are many others that the Amish can point to,” he said.

The Amish first came from Germany in the 18th century, when many Germans landed in Philadelphia and established a diaspora throughout Pennsylvania.

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The Amish moved west toward Lancaster, while other “Pennsil Faanish” moved north into the Lehigh Valley, settling in places with ethnic names such as Hamburg, Heidelberg, Neffs, and Seisholtzville.

Today, Lancaster is a little less quiet than it used to be, with an explosion in tourism and new residents since the turn of the century who are “English,” as the Amish call those who are not members of their sect.

Smucker said he was born tenth of twelve in a family of the old order, the stricter sect that wears civilian clothes, speaks “Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch” and drives baby carriages.

He suggested that his own story shows how Amish values ​​mesh well with conservative principles and those of Trump.

After graduating from Amish school, which ends around ninth grade, Smucker took a night job as a drywall worker to pay for tuition at a private Christian school to complete his degree.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and an Amish man at a Trump event. (Getty)

“That was the deal,” he said of his time at Lancaster Mennonite School.

He later purchased a fledgling business from one of his siblings for $1,000 and grew it into a regional leader in construction and commercial construction.

“I look at this as what we call the American dream,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter where you start. You know, if you work hard … follow the rules, you’re going to have a really great chance of getting ahead in our country.”

“It’s the idea of ​​strong individual responsibility, a strong family unit and then a strong local community or local church. And when all of that is in place, you don't need big government. And that's exactly what the Amish see.” That.”

Fox News Digital has also reached out to the Lancaster County Democratic Committee for comment.