West Virginia progressives are lamenting the continued tilt away from the left by many Democratic Party candidates this election cycle. The governor’s race stands out in particular, since Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jim Justice is tacking to the middle, or even to the right, in this election.
Forget about U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the favorite of the left wing of the party this year; Justice isn’t even backing party nominee Hillary Clinton.
Charlotte Pritt, a former Democrat running for governor as a member of the Mountain Party, wonders what happened to the Democratic Party she remembers. “My candidacy is focused entirely on issues that the Democratic Party once stood for,” she said this week.
The problem for progressives in West Virginia is the votes just aren’t there, at least not enough to win an election.
A recent MetroNews West Virginia Poll by Repass Research found that 38 percent of the state’s voters indentify as conservative, while just 23 percent say they are liberal. Only eight percent say they are “very liberal,” while 17 percent say they are “very conservative.”
Liberalism is not even the dominant view among Democrats. Just 36 percent say they are very or somewhat liberal, while 38 percent identify as moderate and 23 percent are conservative.
Independents, who now make up one in five voters in West Virginia, also lean more to the middle and right than to the left. Thirty-five percent say they are moderate, 32 percent say they are conservative, while just 23 percent identify as liberal.
The trend does not bode well for the left. Even younger voters, where you would traditionally expect to find more progressive views, lean more to the right than the left. The MetroNews Poll shows 39 percent of voters ages 18-24 are conservative, while just 24 percent are liberal.
Pollster Rex Repass says all the numbers point to a rightward lean in West Virginia. “The largest segment of the West Virginia electorate can be defined as steadfast conservatives,” Repass said. “They hold very conservative attitudes across most issues, including social policy and the size and scope of government.”
The only demographic where the left has a distinct advantage? The most highly educated — 46 percent of voters with a graduate degree are either somewhat or very liberal, while 26 percent are somewhat or very conservative.
Where do West Virginia progressives find their political haven? Perhaps in the Mountain Party, but it has yet to become a substantial political force in the state. Clearly, many of them don’t feel as welcome in the Democratic Party anymore.