Sometimes, I wonder if West Virginia didn't become a GOP stronghold in order to troll RINO Tom haha
I mean, they probably just got tired of voting for a party that had kept them poor for decades. 
In that case, Mississippi should dump all their Republicans that have kept them poor for decades.
But we all know why that won't happen...
MS did dump the party that had kept it poor for decades, and it now enjoys GOP control. If we're going to give both parties an equal shot to fix the mess that is MS, we can check back in in about 80 years.
In all my experience regarding elections in the South, economics is rarely an issue that is stressed. The social divide between Democrats and Republicans is really what it comes down to in our elections. When you look at the platforms of the individual Republican parties, there are entire novels written about opposing the President and pushing for conservative social reform. With maybe a line here or there thrown out about the free market.
Aren't you a self-described socially conservative Democrat?
Socially conservative compared to the national Democrats. Socially liberal compared to Louisiana Democrats
Okay, but did you not just disprove your point? If LA Democrats are socially conservative, especially compared to a Democrat who's socially conservative compared to the national party, then obviously statewide elections (which is what is relevant here) aren't completely about social issues and highlight at least some economic differences. People seem to gloss over the '70s, '80s and '90s, but the South was effectively a battleground region. Republicans didn't gain control of the region until into the 2000s, and they were running against Democrats and losing ... in any election, anywhere, the two candidates are going to highlight their differences. The Republicans of 2016 I can't speak to, but the Republicans who slowly started defeating Southern Democrats were convincing voters to try something new, and both candidates were pretty much the same on social issues ... eventually, many Southerners did try something new.
Whether you want to deflect this or not, there is a direct relationship between Republicans gaining more power in the South and the region becoming more developed, less poor and less backward.
the south was NOT a battle ground region rino tom.
look at it this way man.
1964-lbj signs voting rights act, loses all deep south states but arkansas. loses the confederate cradle.
1968-humphrey a liberal does well in the north and loses ALL southern states BADLY but west virginia and and texas. west virginia was only dem for a long time because of the unions unlike texas which voted for humphrey because of the lbj machine.
1976-carter wins the south, but ONLY because he is a southerner. any other dem would have lost it badly just look at hubert. and lets not forget carter only won mississippi by 2points! he only won the deep south (besides georgia and arkansas) because of the black vote. he lost the white vote badly in mississippi.
1980-carter despite being a native of the region loses the entire south besides georgia! by todays standards this looks good because of the county map but at the time it was a SHOCK everyone had expected it to go hard Carter! I was alive during those times, this proves its not a battleground region AT ALL!
1988-dukakis does TERRIBLE in the south worst region of the country.
dems only did well in the south when they nominated local boys like clinton or carter, EVERY other dem did horrible there including al gore (who was a southern native!) if jerry brown, franklin church, or any other liberal western/northern dem was nominated in those years the south would NOT have voted dem. the south is just a very conservative region except for some sates like west virginia (historically) and louisiana (huey long) and the north is always liberal look at new york (free college early on, just ask jon stewart!) this is backed up with the study i linked earlier in this thread from the experts. I know you want the south to be liberal but it was not, is not, and NEVER was.
also southern democrats were really not pro-new deal, look up the conservative coalition man! I remember watching the 1968 election as a kid with my parents and mike wallace himself stating "the south that long old democratic region, has finally turned. the south is no longer democrat, its all conservative tonight, nixon or wallace" (!). u can look it up on youtube just type in 1968 presidential election night returns.
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