West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Telling West Virginia's Story
On West Virginia Morning, Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders reflects on his visit to the state last week in an interview with Ashton Marra…
On West Virginia Morning, Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders reflects on his visit to the state last week in an interview with Ashton Marra and Clark Davis takes the political pulse among students at Marshall University.
These stories on West Virginia Morning from West Virginia Public Broadcasting – telling West Virginia’s story.
College campuses are often thought of as microcosms of society in so many ways and when it comes to politics, the notion tends to hold up. On the campus…
College campuses are often thought of as microcosms of society in so many ways and when it comes to politics, the notion tends to hold up. On the campus of Marshall University, students are picking and choosing sides in the presidential race and estimating the impact the candidates will have on student voter turnout.
Just like in the general public, Marshall University College students have picked their sides when it comes to which presidential candidate they’ll vote for. Marshall University Student Gretchen Fleming was at the Bernie Sanders rally in Huntington last month.
“I would still vote for Hillary over a Donald Trump because he’s fundamentally everything that is wrong with this country,” Fleming said.
Her opinion is pretty common on the Marshall campus. Many students says they’ll vote for their favorite candidate in the primary, but stick with the party nominee in the general, no matter who it is.
Ethan Higginbotham is Sanders supporter, who said that the ground swell of support for Trump could mean more college students will come to the polls.
You can't deny that Donald Trump has tapped into something and he's tapped into the silent majority on the right and that's terrifying honestly. — Marshall Student, Ethan Higginbotham
“I think it’s playing on both sides, I think you have a lot of people coming out to make sure that someone like Donald Trump doesn’t get into the White House, but at the same time you can’t deny that Donald Trump has tapped into something and he’s tapped into the silent majority on the right and that’s terrifying honestly, so I think we need to put our best candidate forward to go up against Trump,” Higginbotham said.
But getting young people out to vote has always been a challenging task. This year, however, the contentiousness of the presidential races have pushed young voters to hit the polls. In neighboring Maryland youth participation increased in both party primaries, with 18% voting, up from 15% in 2008. On the Democratic side Sanders received 68% of the youth vote in Maryland, a trend that is likely to be mirrored in young West Virginia voters.
In Pennsylvania 18% of all youth voters between the ages of 18 and 29 participated in their primary on April 26. Young people in Pennsylvania preferred Sanders even though Clinton won the state and 52% of the youth vote on republican side went to Trump.
Nick Uliana is a Marshall University sophomore, he said as a Republican, he’s not a Trump fan, but would vote for the outspoken candidate.
“I would vote for Donald Trump if it got to that situation just because I really don’t like Hillary Clinton, I feel like she’s a criminal in my opinion,” Uliana said.
During the previous presidential election in 2012, West Virginia had the lowest voter turnout of any state in the nation with less than half of registered voters turning out to the polls. When it comes to 18 to 24 year olds, less than 23 percent cast ballots in the race. But so far this election cycle, the Secretary of State’s office says 30 thousand more people voted during the first seven days of early voting when compared to 2012.
A recent poll shows Donald Trump has a commanding lead in the republican primary and Bernie Sanders is edging out Hillary Clinton in the democratic race in West Virginia. Democrat Jim Justice is showing a lead in the primary and general election race for West Virginia governor.
According to a Tuesday news release from Public Policy Polling, billionaire Trump leads the state with 61 percent. Sen. Ted Cruz has 22 percent and Ohio Governor John Kasich is trailing with 14 percent.
“It’s hard to find better Trump territory than West Virginia,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling, in the release. “He’s by far and away the strongest candidate both among Republican voters and among the general electorate. It will be hard to find many places where he has an overall positive favorability rating but West Virginia is one of them.”
Sanders is favored with 45 percent over Clinton’s 37 percent. Both Sanders and Clinton have made recent campaign stops in West Virginia. Sanders’ campaign announced Tuesday he will return to the state later this week ahead of the May 10 primary.
Businessman Jim Justice is leading with 37 percent of the primary vote over current former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodin’s 23 percent and state Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler’s 19 percent in the democratic primary.
Justice also leads unopposed republican candidate Bill Cole 41-35 for the general election, according to the poll.
“West Virginia gets tougher and tougher for Democrats when it comes to federal races,” said Debnam. “But in Jim Justice, Democrats have found a candidate who looks like he might be strong enough to at least keep the Governor’s office in their hands.”
Public Policy Polling says they surveyed 1,201 West Virginia voters, including 637 likely Democratic primary voters and 549 likely Republican primary voters between April 29 and May 1.
The polling organization says the margin of error is +/-2.8% overall, +/-3.9% for the Democrats and +/- 4.2% for the Republicans.
Eighty percent of participants, selected through a list-based sample, responded via the phone, while 20percent of respondents who did not have landlines conducted the survey over the internet through an opt-in internet panel.
Editor’s Note: For more election coverage leading up to West Virginia’s May 10 primary, visit elections.wvpublic.org.
While former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton preached a message of friendship and promised progress for southern West Virginia inside a campaign event in downtown Williamson Monday, dozens of protestors filled the streets outside chanting messages that made it clear Clinton was not welcome in their community.
“Hillary is a crook!” one man chanted just feet from the event’s entrance. Others yelled loudly, “Remember Benghazi!”
Not everyone who stood outside the rally was against the Clinton visit, though. Timothy Hatcher is a lifelong Williamson resident who held his “Hillary for President”sign proudly.
“People are taking her the wrong way. She has done nothing but great things,” he said. “A lot of people think you can change things in four years — it’s impossible. It takes time for one person to [change] the whole nation.”
“It’s about clean coal,” Hatcher said. “I’m sure she will help the coal miners here in West Virginia.”
Clinton shared that same message with the small group that participated in her roundtable at the Williamson Health and Wellness Center, calling herself a friend of the state.
“I’m not going to sit here and say I’ll wave a magic wand and make something happen, but I will work my heart out for you. I will do everything I possibly can to support what is the character of West Virginia, the people of this state,” Clinton said.
Clinton repeatedly referred to a plan she released last summer that would invest $30 billion in coal communities for education, among other things. Bo Copley is a member of the panel who was recently laid off from his job as a maintenance planner at an Arch Coal subsidiary. He told Clinton her recent comments about the coal industry were at conflict with her new message of friendship.
“I just want to know how you can say you’re going to put a lot of coal miners out of jobs and then come in here and tell us how you’re going to be our friend,” Copley told Clinton, “because those people out there don’t see you as a friend.”
Clinton made the comment at a town hall in Ohio earlier this year, but defended herself Monday, saying the comments were taken out of context and she had repeatedly apologized for them.
Still, those misstatements, as she referred to them, continued to resonate with protestors outside like Emma Runyon. She’s a Williamson native who volunteered on the 2008 Clinton campaign and has since switched her party registration to Republican.
Runyon stood outside the Williamson Wellness Center wearing a Donald Trump hat and T-shirt, waving a Trump sign.
“This very time I was phone banking for Hillary Clinton in 2008,” Runyon said. “She changed every position from 2008 to now. She slowly went so far away from working people.”
Runyon added Clinton also promotes the “War on Coal,” a sentiment that helped Republicans take over the state Legislature during the 2014 election.
Clinton will make an additional stop in West Virginia this week, holding a roundtable discussion in Charleston on Tuesday focused on substance abuse.
The event is the same day that two states, Indiana and Tennessee, head to the polls to cast ballots in their primary elections.
West Virginia’s primary is May 10.
Editor’s Note: For more on election coverage leading up to West Virginia’s May 10 primary, visit elections.wvpublic.org.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary is reporting raising about $26 million in April for her primary race against Bernie Sanders.
Clinton’s campaign said it has $30 million in the bank heading into May, only slightly less than the $29 million she had at the start of last month.
Sanders raised the same amount last month, marking a steep decline from the $46 million he raised in March. He did not report how much money he has on hand, raising questions about whether he can sustain his robust online fundraising as his path narrows.
Clinton has now raised $213.5 million in primary funds for the campaign and more than $46 million for national and state Democratic parties.
Clinton is campaigning in Kentucky and West Virginia on Monday.
Former President Bill Clinton made stops in West Virginia Sunday to campaign for his wife, Hillary, for president. Reactions to Clinton were noticeably different, as his stop in Logan was met with some opposition, while the crowd in Charleston was enthusiastic without criticisms or interjections from the audience.
The former president first stopped in Logan, where he was met with mixed reactions from the crowd. Some attendees cheered while others booed during introductory speeches from Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin.
Early Sunday, city officials in Logan sent Manchin’s staff an email stating the Clintons weren’t welcome in the town.
“Bill and Hillary Clinton are simply not welcome in our town. Mrs. Clinton’s anti-coal messages are the last thing our suffering town needs at this point,” the email reads in part.
“The policies that have been championed by people like Mrs. Clinton have all but devastated our fair town, and honestly, enough is enough. We wish them the best in their campaign, however we again state they are not welcome on our city properties. We hope that you will respectfully consider NOT visiting our community.”
Hillary Clinton took strong criticism in March for saying she was going to put a lot of coal companies out of business. She later apologized in a letter to Manchin, stating that she was mistaken for making that comment.
Bill Clinton won both the 1992 and 1996 general elections in West Virginia, first defeating George H. W. Bush and then Bob Dole.
The former president’s speeches focused mainly on revitalizing the economy in the state’s southern coalfields and issues related to addiction and substance abuse. He expressed sympathy while saying Hillary will address those issues.
“I know what you’re going through,” Bill Clinton said at the event in Logan.
Some protesters were escorted from the Logan event after shouting questions at the former president.
“We are not going to resolve this today,” Clinton said of the state’s economic woes and other issues facing West Virginia and the country.
Speaking to a crowd of a few hundred people in the state Capitol’s rotunda, Clinton’s later speech mirrored that of the one in Logan.
“I can hardly remember a time with so much promise and so much progress and yet people still are very worried,” he said.
Bill Clinton said his wife understands that economically depressed regions like Appalachia need a “special strategy” to revitalize themselves.
Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear in West Virginia this week, with one stop slated for Williamson on Monday and an event Tuesday at an as-of-yet unannounced location.
Editor’s Note: For more on election coverage leading up to West Virginia’s May 10 primary, visit elections.wvpublic.org.
