Live Blog: Appalachia Tuesday Part West Virginia Primary
Posted: May 10, 2016 Filed under: 2016 elections | Tags: West Virginia Primary 96 Comments
The next two Tuesdays will provide returns from the nation’s Coal Country. Exit Polls are available from today’s Democratic Primary in West Virginia. West Virginia is one of the nation’s white, working class strongholds.
The following is reportable as “preliminary” exit poll results from the West Virginia Democratic primary. Please note that exit poll results can and do change as additional data come in – sometimes substantially. Check back for updates.
The highest level of economic concern in any Democratic primary this year and greater-than-usual turnout among men, whites, political independents and critics of President Obama characterized Hillary Clinton’s challenges in the West Virginia primary, her overall lead in delegates notwithstanding.
Extraordinary economic stress in the state was evident in preliminary exit poll results:
• Six in 10 voters said they were very worried about the direction of the nation’s economy in the next few years, by far the highest level of economy worry in a Democratic primary this year – far above the average, 40 percent, and rivaling the customary level seen in Republican primaries.
• Nearly six in 10 said the economy and jobs was the most important issue in their vote, again by far the highest in any Democratic contest this year.
• A majority in the state thought trade with other countries takes away more U.S. jobs than it creates, vs. only a little more than a third who said it creates more jobs. The division has been much closer, 45-39 percent, in previous states where the question has been asked.
These economically aggrieved voters not only were far more numerous in West Virginia than in other Democratic primaries, they also were much more supportive of Bernie Sanders here than elsewhere. Among anti-trade voters and those very worried about the economy, more than six in 10 voted for Sanders, according to preliminary exit poll results, as did a majority of those focused on the economy and jobs.
Coal workers: The state’s depressed coal industry is a key reason for its economic woes, and three in 10 West Virginia Democratic primary voters said there was a coal worker in their household. Perhaps reflecting Clinton’s gaffe about creating jobs “because we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business,” more than six in 10 of these coal household voters went for Sanders.
Race: West Virginia also was a tough state for Clinton demographically. Whites accounted for nine in 10 primary voters in preliminary exit poll results, far above the 61 percent they’ve averaged across the 2016 Democratic primaries. And the exit poll indicated that Sanders did better among whites in West Virginia than his even split with Clinton in this group in previous contests.
Gender: Women have outnumbered men by 58-42 percent overall in previous contests, a tremendous boost to Clinton – but in West Virginia, the advantage in turnout among women was smaller. Sanders also outperformed his usual numbers among women.
Party: Completing the demographics trifecta, political independents accounted for a third of voters in West Virginia in preliminary exit poll results, well above the average to date, 22 percent. Sanders took seven in 10 of these voters, slightly better than usual.
Obama: Further, only about quarter of Democratic primary voters in West Virginia said they wanted next president to continue Obama’s policies, a key group for Clinton to date; that compares with 54 percent on average in previous contests this year. An additional quarter wanted more liberal policies, and four in 10 wanted less liberal policies, roughly three times the average this year. Both non-Obama groups favored Sanders in today’s primary.
Twenty-nine delegates are at stake in today’s primary on the Democratic side. Bernie Sanders has been projected to win

HUNTINGTON, WV – APRIL 26: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders addresses the crowd during a campaign rally at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, April 26, 2016 in Huntington, West Virginia. Sanders is preparing for West Virginia’s May 10th primary. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images)
the state but will not make any substantial progress in delegate count.
Thirty-four delegates are at stake in today’s primary on the Republican side in West Virigina. Donald Trump is the projected winner there. Donald Trump is technically the remaining candidate but we there are other’s on the ballot and we do have this news. Nebraska (sigh, it figures) might reinvigorate Cruz. Nebraska Republicans also vote today.
Ted Cruz floated the possibility of restarting his presidential campaign if he wins Nebraska’s GOP primary on Tuesday and avoided saying whether he supports Donald Trump‘s bid for president.
So, join us for the analysis and pundit-bashing!!!
Poll: Despite Bernie Sanders’ Crowds, Hillary Clinton Ahead In Oregon
http://www.opb.org/news/series/election-2016/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-oregon-poll/
Just .1% reporting in WV with Clinton 50.6% to Sanders 41.3%–2 precincts.
Sorry, I meant counties.
Trump is ahead @ 71.6% of the vote.
That’s pretty amazing!
Yeah, he dropped of a little to 69%, but considering he told folks to stay home and not vote, you really have to wonder. Again, is it something to do with the early voting?
Could be …
That won’t give him much of a delegate advantage.
That is what I am hoping!
I’m going to guess that the returns at this point reflect the 100,000 early voters. We have 3 more counties starting to report, so it is now, Clinton 45.8% vs Sanders 45%.
Looks like Trump voters are voting for Bernie
Check out @deanbarker’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/deanbarker/status/730191071498645504?s=09
We flipped leaders for a minute but we are at 1.5% reporting and it’s Clinton 47.1% vs Sanders 43.7%.
Trump has been declared winner by Wapo at 1.9% reporting and 69.2%. He has 11,373 votes do far, about the same as Sanders. I wonder about crossover based on the numbers and the fact that we thought WV might go Sanders anyway.
2.2% reporting: Clinton 45.8% vs Sanders 45.3%
No reporting on NE yet. WV is 6.1% reporting, now, Sanders 47.7% vs Clinton 43.3%
it makes sense Ohio Co just came in at 30% reporting and a 20% lead for Sanders.
There could be some Cruz and Kasich people voting for Sanders.
Trump’s if you check exit polls
According to Politico, Sanders has declared himself the winner in a fundraising e-mail, even though it’s still considered too close to call.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/west-virginia-democratic-primary-2016-222974
He’s lost it
10.6% reporting Sanders 48.8% vs Clinton 41.6%.
Still nothing out of NE. Did they just close?
Yup
So Trump is going to win the remaining primaries because nobody else is in the race. Where’s all the whining? Where’s the media whining that this is boring and it’s a coronation? That’s what we heard when Hillary was ahead of the pack.
http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/nebraska
Exactly.
Trump wins Nebraska
Yeah, 9.6% reporting and he has 59.4%
No surprise from me. It’s a wackobird state. Hated living there every minute of it
I imagined, driving through there that the west side would be interesting.
Yes. It’s a vast grass wasteland with some rock formations here and there. Sandhills are interesting.
Lol.
Sanders is pulling away, 12.9% reporting: Sanders 49.3% vs Clinton 40.9%.
15.3% reporting: Sanders 49.3% vs Clinton 40.6%
OFF TOPIC!! But it’s so crazy making. I can’t get Mika B out of my head opining that if Hillary would just ACT a certain way, then people would see she is AUTHENTIC. The cognitive dissonance is deafening.
Yep, demons in the hogs. Send them over!
I agree. If these people would take a fresh look and listen it would be amazing. But I get the impression they write their commentary ahead of time.
And we have fighter jets scrambling in the South China Seas. We sent them there in April.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-usa-china-idUSKCN0Y10DM
Great … Those islands again?
Apparently. That area is going to be rough. Can you imagine Trump there?
Yes, and it gives me nightmares.
Correction: we sent jets there in April, but China scrambled theirs after we sent a missile ship up next to their hand built sand lot.
Clinton will be running ads in Kentucky. They must think she could win it.
Wapo has declared Sanders the winner, 25.2% reporting: he at 49.7% vs Clinton 39.6%
Think it looks like he nets 3
Wapo says there are 29 to be had. I see 14 for him and 10 for her on their board.
Here’s some pundit bashing. The pundits are uniformly awful. I could be specific, but there are too many examples. Among the many things that the networks foolishly or deliberately do wrong, is extrapolate from individual state results. WV is a terrible state for Hillary at this stage; there are few Democrats left in it; she wants to transition the country from fossil fuels to alternative energy. Further,many Trump people crossed over to vote for Sanders, as it is an open primary.
In the meantime, Trump gets lauded for being authentic, and connecting with anger, etc, etc. So did all the fascists in Europe in the 1920’s; they connected with unhappy and angry people. But they were fascists, and they murdered millions of people, and took away basic civil rights for the people they didn’t murder. So exploiting people’s anger is not a plus. If the media cared to, or had the insight, they could actually talk about Trump’s nostrums, which if effected, would destroy our economy. Unfortunately, it probably wouldn’t destroy the economy of the pundits, which is what they are counting on, as they continue to try to enable this truly awful candidate.
I don’t know if it’s Trump people, William, he has the most votes, by about 9400 over Sanders. Cruz has surprisingly little, 8338 votes.
There are going to be about 50,000 more Democratic votes than Republican votes in WV, even though it is very Republican now. Of course some of it is due to Republicans not having a race any longer. But pretty clearly, there are a number of Republicans and right-wing indies (most indies in WV are right-wing) crossing over to vote for Sanders. Apparently an exit poll showed that many Sanders voters in this primary are voting for Trump in the general election. If that’s the case, why are they voting in the Democratic Primary?
On some level this has to be about bleeding campaign money from Clinton.
Absolutely. I’m sure that right-wing groups are still funneling money to Sanders. And no one calls for Sanders to leave the race, while every day Hillary was asked to leave by some ranking Democrat, back in 2008. Where is Pelosi now; she was very vocal about this then.
Yep.
If the Dems can get the vote out, like those 100 thousand that signed up in OR, they might get more downticket candidates.
WV is 41.9% reporting with Sanders 50.5% vs Clinton 39%. Still the same delegate count, but sometimes Wapo gets behind on that.
49.5% reporting: Sanders 50.9% vs Clinton 38.2%
59% reporting: Sanders 51$ vs Clinton 36.8%. Wapo shows the same delegate count.
60.5% reporting, same percentages as above but the delegate count has changed. Sanders 16 vs Clinton 11.
Hmm. Had to turn TV off. Sanders speech was on.
Yeah, see, this is why we have free TV and watch end season NCIS, there is no Sanders in NCIS land.
Go Gibbs! 😀
Me too……If I have to listen to the 99% spiel one more time I might stroke. This thing can’t come to an end soon enough to suit me.
Clinton wins Neb open primary today. No delegates awarded since they were awarded in the Mar 5 caucus.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/05/clinton-wins-nebraska-democratic-primary-223042
If all states were caucuses, Sanders would be the nominee by a mile. If all states were primaries, Hillary would win about 47 of them. Therein we see the ludicrousness of caucuses. One of these days, the Democrats are going to end up with a Kardashian as the nominee, simply because caucuses disenfranchise 90% of their voters.
I think it’s more like 90%.
Even the Republicans in my state switched from using caucuses entirely to using mostly the results of the primaries. They did that after Pat Robertson won the Republican caucuses state-wide one year, and the party bigwigs had horror fits.
Not that primaries eliminate scary doofuses — case in point: Trump.
Yea. It’s a weird state, isn’t it?
71% reporting: Sanders 51.1% vs Clinton 36.3%. Wapo shows the same delegate count.
75.1% reporting: Sanders 51.2% vs Clinton 36.4%. Wapo shows the same delegate count. There are 12.4% other, which seems a little high.
80.3% reporting Sanders 51.4% vs Clinton 36.1%. Same delegate count.
There are still 5 counties uncounted.
Trump has 76.6% of the Repub vote with 129,154 votes.
So it’s late on the east coast and this part if going slowly. I’ll check back later.
Thx for helping out!
If CSPAN shows it again, try to watch the interview with forieign policy expert Max Boot, who is a lifelong Republican and who worked for Romney and Rubio. He absolutely hates Trump, and thinks he is the most unqualified and dangerous candidate in history. He has never voted for a Democrat in his life. He is truly frightened of a Trump presidency, and thinks that Hillary would be far better. I hope he and his comments get wide coverage.
BB and I don’t think he should get any classified briefings although my understanding is the Obama decided what he can see. He’s likely to blurt something.
I don’t think Trump should get classified briefings, either. No way is Trump able to keep anything important to himself. The urge to boast about it will be too strong for him, and he doesn’t believe in restrictions on what he says. That’s not even taking possible cognitive issues into account.
I would worry that he would actually get half a brain about the information and start telegraphing a change in his behavior.
My husband, who is pretty much non-political, said last night that he believes that the Democratic Party hasn’t changed its position from 2008. When I asked what he meant he said. They didn’t want a woman POTUS then but have a quandary now. Because Sanders is a terrible alternative. They should have let Hillary in last time and run Obama now when he’s had more experience.
If they wanted her to win this time out, they could have given her the support her party should be giving her.
Where is her team support?
I agree he’s likely to blurt out something. One problem: I understand that Hillary and Donald have to receive exactly the same classified briefings. She can’t be given any information that he doesn’t get.
She gets briefed already as an ex sec of State and Bill as ex Pres. Think she’d still get them.
There are laws about spouses being foreign born, so that has yet to be talked about. He will only get what Pres. Obama wants him to see.
WV is 91.8% reporting with Sanders 51.4% vs Clinton 36.% Delegate count 16 to 11. Trump has earned 76.7% of his vote. He has 25,373 more votes than Sanders.
Bakari Sellers put it in perspective, he said in 2012 a convicted felon ran against Obama and won with 41% of the vote. Also, Sanders voters say they will support Trump in the general.
Wonder why he isn’t making this issue CLEAR. Let me be clear, he says.
If they want a President to be less liberal than Obama, I smell a bunch of Republicans voting as “Democrats.”
yup, been going on for some time.
I saw the headline that said a third of West Virginia Dems say they will support Trump in the general.
I suspect those who frack rodents at work.
Also, I am tired to death of Weakened @ Bernie’s.
I cannot allow him to be on my television for a second.
I am also sick of hearing about how Bern thinks he would do against Trump.
He can’t run the damned country.
He is no more qualified than Trump.
I can’t bear to listen to Bernie.
It’s like fingernails on a blackboard
It is.
Yep.
What we’re hearing from bernie are the last gasps of a dying candidacy. He has no selling points. He won last night because GOP voters crossed over to vote from him and they won’t cross back to the Dem ticket in the Fall election. I hope this trend of GOP’er crossing over to vote for Bernie & vote against Hillary because Donald has clinched doesn’t continue. It’s ugly BUT it makes the case better than I ever could for Closed Primaries.
Spot on.
Nebraska makes the case for ending the arcane and idiotic practice of caucusing.
Hills won, but zero delegates.
Ayup
Alert: there was a hacking warning when I just tried to open Blue Nation Review.
Damn Berniebro rats. WWTSDQ?