Lower-income Appalachians who voted for Trump did not vote their economic interests, though it's possible that many thought they were. (Wait until Trump takes away Obamacare, but even that probably won't wing them back to the Democrats too quickly).
One reason why many people who aren't rich vote Republican is because Republicans have convinced large portions of the American public that taxing the rich will hurt everyone, and that cutting taxes for the wealthy will help lower-income people too ("trickle down" theory). My state is full of people who think like that; I'm not entirely sure how Appalachians feel about taxing the wealthy these days, though.
Somewhat true.
Appalachians very much view their economic well-being as tied to coal. Trump was pro-coal. Hillary said she wanted to shut down the coal mines. That sort of thing tends to focus the issue. Couple that with issues of gun ownership and social conservatism and the choice becomes a no-brainer.
There's lots of talk about the budget cuts and how these things hurt Appalachia. Most of these "cuts" aren't cuts; they're reductions in the rate of growth. Appalachian incomes are so low and many of the folks on public assistance there are on SSI/SSD for disabilities that these cuts aren't really going to impact THEM. Especially given that KY, WV, and OH expanded Medicaid.
If you cap your rate of growth of entitlements, than that is a cut. Let us say Medical Expansion is at 5% & you cap the entitlement at 3%, there will be huge cuts to services, cuts to the number of people. And there are wide ranging problems. Significant number of people in rural areas & rural hospitals benefit disproportionately from Medicaid. States which expanded Medicaid & states which are suffering from a major Opioid crisis like WV will suffer. Those are big cuts as are the cuts to food stamps, meals on wheels etc.
Anyways, red & rural American benefit disproportionately from the money from large blue cities (who contribute a lot of Federal taxes). Many of these folks are on the ACA & hated Obamacare (some don't know even know they are on it). I do feel in some part they vote their own self-interest given that Coal is so embedded to the economy & Dems are comparatively more anti-coal. But you have thing beyond coal, with more mechanisation & automation, coal jobs have been falling huge for decades while renewables are exploding at a cheaper cost & with massive jobs. In a few decades, coal will die. Unfortunately, many of these folks are struggling to food on the tablle & can't think long term but a 1 industry economy is incredibly risky.
Also, social factors are probably underrated. There were a significant section of Socially conservative or moderate Democrats who believed in a liberal economy policy. With the huge shift of the Dems towards Identity politics & overt campaign on social issues, these voters have been alienated. WV is also losing people, some people are going out of state for good jobs, education & these were likely Dem voters.
Poll
