Harris Courts Polish American Votes in Pennsylvania

Polish Americans are an important, if politically overlooked, demographic. But in Pennsylvania, many have tended to lean Republican.

Polish Americans are not an ethnic group that typically gets mentioned in modern American presidential debates.

So when Vice President Kamala Harris noted Pennsylvania’s large Polish American population as she discussed the threat that Russia poses to Poland, Timothy L. Kuzma was pleasantly surprised.

“You start talking about Poland, and Polish Americans’ ears are going to perk up,” said Mr. Kuzma, national president of the Polish Falcons of America, a nonprofit fraternal benefit organization that provides life insurance for its members and is based in Pittsburgh.

In the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Polish Americans, who comprise more than 5 percent of the population, are an important, if politically overlooked, demographic.

Many of Pennsylvania’s roughly 700,000 Polish Americans share a common fear that Vladimir V. Putin has ambitions to restore the former Soviet Union’s sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, including in Poland.

But there is less agreement among them on whether Vice President Harris or Donald J. Trump would more effectively deal with Mr. Putin.