Did Southwest Virginia surprise you last night?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

You need to consider why people vote the way that they do (I'm sometimes surprised that there's less of that sort of critical analysis of voter behavior here, but whatever). What reason did people in that area have for voting for the Democratic ticket? Once upon a time (not that long ago at all) political tradition would have been a reason, but that's all been pissed away in recent decades. Leaving...? You can't even file this one under the tired heading of 'voting against their interests' because the Virginia Democratic Party manifestly does not represent their interests.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well of course they were. Not all of WV is coalfield. Though a long-term analysis is good as it neatly demonstrates the main reason for what has happened: the Democratic Party's abandonment of redistribution, which was the sole positive reason for voting the Democratic ticket.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Could you please elaborate as to what "redistribution" means in this context?

The obvious thing: the redistribution of wealth. Of course you won't find many instances of it being put quite like that, but the idea that the Democratic Party represented a transfer of money from (did it ever matter who from?) to people like them was at the core of hillbilly support for the party from the New Deal until things went to sh!t in recent decades. What sort of Democratic politician was particularly popular in such places once upon a time? People like Robert Byrd and Carl D. Perkins. Says it all, right? People don't consistently vote for one political party for a long time purely out of deference to tradition, they do it because that party is seen as standing for (even if very imperfectly) their interests.

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Word.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Though we shouldn't discount wider cultural issues. From Wikipedia's short but not uninformative bio of Henry Howell:

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Unimaginable from a Democratic politician today.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Missing the point a little, people.

Did they really? For all the Republican percentage gains, turnout in coal country is pretty damn low, and across the state of WV Romney actually received fewer votes than Bush2004 (not in coal country though). It's not the kind of pattern you'd get if the Republican party was being enthusiastically embraced.
(Which of course drives the point that the modern national Democrats have no appeal whatsoever locally - or rather a very strong negative appeal - home even more forcefully.)

Yeah, it's actually exactly the sort of pattern you'd expect if...