WV-MetroNews: Justice +14

[jamestroll]

West Virginia is the most extreme ticket splitter version of Missouri.

MO and WV will vote for the same for the presidential and gubernatorial contests, but Missouri by smaller margins in both.

It sucks that coal dominates West Virginia politics so hard. Yes, I agree that coal and other fossil fuels are still an important energy source, but their usefulness will decline in the future as most alternative sources get viable. Once solar polar takes off in the West, for instance, the trend will accelerate.

West Virginia is a beautiful state, perhaps Tourism could be a good boost to their economy. Unfortunately, most tourism jobs will not pay the wages that coal mining jobs would.

There should not be a war on coal per se, but more of a move towards alternative energy sources.

Anyway, sorry for my irrelevant rant.

Democrats are certainly favored in this race.

[jamestroll]

It sucks that coal dominates West Virginia politics so hard. Yes, I agree that coal and other fossil fuels are still an important energy source, but their usefulness will decline in the future as most alternative sources get viable. Once solar polar takes off in the West, for instance, the trend will accelerate.

West Virginia is a beautiful state, perhaps Tourism could be a good boost to their economy. Unfortunately, most tourism jobs will not pay the wages that coal mining jobs would.

There should not be a war on coal per se, but more of a move towards alternative energy sources.

Don't get me wrong, the ski resorts in WV are great, but those are only worth anything during the winter.

As for alternative energy, WV isn't a great state for solar or wind, so it's gonna be hard for there to be lots of new jobs for former coal workers.

I know that. But my point is that as technology progresses, it is inevitable that coal will be less of an energy source. I would say for most of our lifetimes, there will be employment from coal for sure.

I would think summer recreation is certainly possible for West Virginia, but from industry experience, it is winter sports that make a much larger profit.

[jamestroll]

Well,
I'm still not sure yet that Justice will win. Based on some recent elections, KY-GOV and all the other downballot races, WV-2014 etc that republicans tend to overperform the polls by a lot, like if a lot of those living in coal areas changed their mind just before casting their ballot.

KY-Gov was probably just a polling failure. I hope it is not repeated in West Virginia or Missouri.

Keep in mind that Jon Bel Edwards in Louisiana and Jim Hood (albeit for a lower ballot office) won in Mississippi and some polls underestimated both of them. So I am not too worried.

Also, Kentucky has quite a history of Democrats overperforming in polls.

[jamestroll]

Honestly, Justice is probably going to win.  Polls always had Bevin in striking distance last year, but that's not the case in Kentucky this year.  I do think this poll is a few points too Democratic-friendly, because Trump has to be up by more than 18 in WV.

Yes I agree.

I hate how Atlas often tries to compare Missouri, Kentucky, West  Virginia, etc all too each other. Those three states are very different.