Interestingly enough, WV used to be a safe blue state for most of the state’s history. Literally Gore ruined that.
Because they weren’t blue due to progressive social policy, they were blue because of the unions. Gore went after the biggest union industries in the state, and no Dem since has thought how to fix it.
Of all people, Bernie did really well in the 2016 primary, but since Clinton got ~35% compared to Bernie’s ~53% she of course got a majority of our state’s delegates (by one).
If you wanted to get a Dem to poll well here, you’d have to drop the gun stuff almost entirely (a lot of rural folks and a lot of hunters, a lot of woods full of wild animals [and those woods are directly adjacent to most populated areas - the entire state is forested mountains], etc), not lead with the progressive social justice stuff (not denounce it, not ignore it, just not treat it as the top priority and focus of your message - it’s there but it’s not what you’re selling yourself on), and then double down on working class concerns (this should be what you lead with and emphasize). Think something adjacent to social populism.
That’s really interesting, I was not aware. Do you have anything more I could read on this? Wikipedia suggests that the change might be due to Gore’s focus on climate when so many people there make a living from coal, that sounds plausible as well.
Interestingly enough, WV used to be a safe blue state for most of the state’s history. Literally Gore ruined that.
Because they weren’t blue due to progressive social policy, they were blue because of the unions. Gore went after the biggest union industries in the state, and no Dem since has thought how to fix it.
Of all people, Bernie did really well in the 2016 primary, but since Clinton got ~35% compared to Bernie’s ~53% she of course got a majority of our state’s delegates (by one).
If you wanted to get a Dem to poll well here, you’d have to drop the gun stuff almost entirely (a lot of rural folks and a lot of hunters, a lot of woods full of wild animals [and those woods are directly adjacent to most populated areas - the entire state is forested mountains], etc), not lead with the progressive social justice stuff (not denounce it, not ignore it, just not treat it as the top priority and focus of your message - it’s there but it’s not what you’re selling yourself on), and then double down on working class concerns (this should be what you lead with and emphasize). Think something adjacent to social populism.
That’s really interesting, I was not aware. Do you have anything more I could read on this? Wikipedia suggests that the change might be due to Gore’s focus on climate when so many people there make a living from coal, that sounds plausible as well.