Democrats winning in West Virginia, Americans Afraid of Civil War
Some bizarre and surprising poll results show just chaotic and fragmented American politics have become.
Trump country is not the safe Republican stronghold, that the New York elite believes it to be. Democrats are leading the polls in two Congressional races in West Virginia, a state where President Donald J. Trump (R-New York) won 67.9% of the vote in 2016.
Incumbent Joe Manchin (D) had a 7% lead over challenger Patrick Morrissey in the U.S. Senate race, a Monmouth University poll found. Manchin had 48% of the vote to Morrissey’s 39%.
Why are Trump voters Supporting Democrats?
Not even endorsements from Trump were providing Morrissey, the state’s Attorney General with much help.
Surprisingly, Manchin, a very moderate establishment Democrat was doing very well among probable Trump voters. He had a higher margin of victory among those over 65; 67% to Morrissey’s 34%, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.
That indicates Republicans are likely to have a hard time attracting support from Trump voters in the Midwest. For all their passion, the Trump voters seem to prefer the conservative status quo in both parties.
Nor are Trump voters that concerned about corruption or reform, Manchin is one of the sleaziest US Senators. The Senator went out of his way to defend his daughter, Heather Bresch the CEO of the pharmaceutical house Mylan (NASDAQ: MYL), after she raised the price of the lifesaving EpiPen drugs by 500% in 2016.
Radical Left-Wing Democrat might win in West Virginia
Republicans face a more problematic and potentially prophetic race in West Virginia’s 3rd District. A radical leftwing Democrat appears to be winning a contest for the U.S. House of Representatives in Coal Country (southern West Virginia).
State Senator Richard Ojeda (D-Logan) was leading State Delegate Carol Miller (R-Cabell) by a margin of 43% to 41%, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported. Ojeda is winning in a district that Donald J. Trump won by 49% in 2016.
Ojeda is a strange figure; an army veteran with a crewcut who claims to have voted for Trump but now opposes him, National Public Radio (NPR) reported. He’s also a tough guy who drives around in a Jeep, has tattoos, and dresses more like an eccentric character from the corner bar than a politician.
Despite his military background; 24 years in the Regular Army, Ojeda is an unapologetic leftist who backed West Virginia’s teacher’s strike and legalized marijuana. Ojeda has imitated Trump by posting live videos on Facebook every few days, but he’s impressed left-wing journalists by echoing the views of Marxist intellectuals like Howard Zinn.
A 21st Century Theodore Roosevelt from Coal Country
“I compare him to almost a Theodore Roosevelt (R-New York) kind of personality,” Chuck Keeney told NPR. “Teddy Roosevelt (TR) was this exuberant guy, he boxed, full of testosterone, and I see a lot of Ojeda in that.”
Like Teddy, Ojeda is a he-man intellectual and nationalist, who seems to be drifting left as he goes older. In his last presidential run in 1912, TR supported single-payer healthcare and social security 20 years before the New Deal. Keeney is a history professor at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College.
Ojeda’s success proves that the idea there is a Blue Democratic wave arising in the heartland might be correct. He and Manchin demonstrate that Trump Country is not a safe place for Republicans.
One reason why Democrats are doing well in West Virginia is that rank and file voters don’t buy the media’s claims that the GOP is “Trump’s Party” and still distrust the Republican establishment. Strangely enough, disgruntled Trump voters might be the key to Democratic victory in 2018 – at least in Coal Country.
Ojeda’s popularity indicates that Trump voters are not as socially conservative as many think. The State Senator also demonstrates that there is a strong leftwing constituency in the U.S. military that might play an outsized role in upcoming elections.
One out of three Americans is afraid of Civil War
More than one out of three, or 31%, of likely US voters thinks that a Second Civil War will break out within the next five years, a Rasmussen poll calculated. Disturbingly more than one out of 10, or 11%, of likely voters thinks a Second American Civil War is “very likely.”
The truly frightening aspect of Rasmussen’s numbers is that politically-active Americans, who are more likely be familiar with the political situation, are more afraid of Civil War. Over one third of Democrats (37%) and nearly one-third of Republicans (32%) were afraid that Civil War is about to break out.
Yet even independents are scared of the political climate 26%; of them or more than one out of four, were afraid of Civil War within five years.
The fears of Civil War are widespread around 84% of Americans are worried about political violence. Rasmussen found that just 16% of Americans were not at all concerned about Civil War.
Americans are Afraid of the Left
Americans are also very afraid of the Left, Rasmussen found. About 59% of voters feared opponents of President Trump will resort to violence. Americans are almost as scared of Trump supporters, around 53% of those Rasmussen polled were afraid that pro-Trump media critics would resort to violence.
This poll should concern us because it indicates that average Americans are afraid of what they are hearing around the water cooler and at the corner bar. Passions in the country appear to be more violent than many Americans are willing to admit.
Rasmussen surveyed 1,000 likely voters between June 21 and June 24 to get its numbers.