No state is more coveted by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris than Pennsylvania, because their best strategies for winning the Electoral College depend on winning it. With polls showing a neck-and-neck race there, we spoke to 12 Pennsylvania residents for our new Times Opinion focus group: voters who supported Joe Biden or Mr. Trump in 2020 and are not diehard partisans.

While the group leaned toward Ms. Harris, their support was fairly weak. Few of the participants could make a convincing case for voting for her on merit. Given their concerns about the country, particularly the economy, they want a candidate they can rally behind. But they haven’t heard enough detail from her about how she would cut costs.

“It feels like, ‘Break my arm or my leg,'” George, a 63-year-old 2020 Biden voter, said of his voting options. He was open to considering Mr. Trump, but added: “I just can’t imagine voting for a felon who says on day one he’s going to be a dictator and has a list of 5,000 people to replace in the government. At the same time, I see how liberal she was and how she changed her mind. You want to talk about fracking in Pennsylvania? We all come from fracking.”

Those who liked Mr Trump saw him as a businessman, while those who disliked him saw him as a child. That suggests the Harris team may be on to something by making him seem small rather than a major threat. Ms Harris is considered fairly unknown and untested. “I don’t feel like I’ve seen Harris during Biden’s presidency, so she’s just OK,” said Lania, a 34-year-old 2020 Biden voter. Kay, a 61-year-old Biden voter, said Ms Harris “has been almost nonexistent for the last four years.”

For Ms. Harris, the risk is that voters like Lania and Kay will not be engaged voters on Election Day, while for Mr. Trump, the risk is that, as George suggested, his past makes him unacceptable. The economy, and to some extent abortion, appear to be the driving issues in Pennsylvania, and Mr. Trump was ahead in our group on economic issues while Ms. Harris was way ahead on reproductive rights.