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On social issues, foreign policy, and on fiscal issues West Virginia is red as they come. The only place that Democrats have an in with is unionization, but that is fading quickly and Charleston gets away from manufacturing.
In many ways WV voted like the deep South did right through LBJ.
WV is not a swing state, it is a state like Kentucky, fundamentally Conservative, with strong allegiances to the Democrats - but like Kentucky in the 90s, that is going away. I would guess that when Robert Byrd retires, he elected replacement will have an R beside his name.
Agreed. I wouldn't consider it a swing state, it will be quite hard for any Democratic Presidential candidate to win it. I was just pointing out on the local and state level the state still elects mostly Democrats. The Governor is a Democrat, both Senators are Dems 2 of the 3 members of the House are Dems and the state has huge Dem majorities in both the House of Delegates and State Senate. With that being said Democrats in West Virginia tend to be much more conservative than the national Democratic Party, and the state is a red state on the Presidential level.
The fact that WV votes red is a bit baffling, and I believe social issues have in fact been the root cause of any hint of red the state shows. However, if one were to look at the demographics and voter base of WV, you would see a heavily Democratic state, with the biggest source of support coming from labor unions.
Still, WV voted for a Democratic president in 1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, and 1996.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nmnita
Are you sure they didn't go Reagan?
Nita
In 1984. Of course, every state went for Reagan that year (except MN), which makes '84 a poor example for the red/blue nature of any state.
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