LMAO , if Appalachia was so racist why did they trend D in the 1970s and 1980s while the Deep South Trended Hard R(It was more D relative to the Nation in 1988 compared to 1968).
The Reagan administration was viewed as anti-union, especially after the crackdown on the air traffic controllers’ strike in 1981. Back then, union membership in Appalachia was quite high so this should easily explain the D trend there at least in that decade. It also explains why Reagan/Bush tended to run well behind their statewide numbers in the Appalachian parts of states like KY, OH, PA and VA.
