People have different versions of what "Backwards" means. Do mean like SyFy Channel channel scary hillbillie movie, or you just cant drive 5 minutes to a strip mall? A lot of people equate "backwards" with inability to buy stuff at walmart, conveniently. All states have rural areas and rural people live their own lifestyle. Is it "backwards? Not to them.
To me, an outsider, they are both beautiful states. WV interstates are some of the better ones in the east. It is a positive to me that both areas have not been Florida/Jersey style strip mall/McMansion'd to death. Letting that go on is my "backward"