Could Arkansas be a battleground state?

[UWS]

Will Donald Trump's nomination and Hillary Clinton's nomination as well as Bill Clinton's heritage make Arkansas a battleground state in the General Election on November 8 2016?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Lol no.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Will Donald Trump's nomination and Hillary Clinton's nomination as well as Bill Clinton's heritage make Arkansas a battleground state in the General Election on November 8 2016?

Bill himself couldn't make Arkansas competitive these days.

[Ljube]

Lol no.

[136or142]

Maybe if liberals and conservatives actually have a shooting war as some psychics predict.  For a Presidential election, no.

[136or142]

Will Donald Trump's nomination and Hillary Clinton's nomination as well as Bill Clinton's heritage make Arkansas a battleground state in the General Election on November 8 2016?

Bill himself couldn't make Arkansas competitive these days.

God Himself couldn't make Arkansas competitive these days.

[UWS]

Maybe with Hillary's centrist views that are not pleasing Sanders' supporters.

[Unimog]

Is there another Hillary Clinton or another Arkansas or what?

No.

[Podgy the Bear]

Times have changed.  To see the massive swing away from two well regarded centrist Democratic Senate incumbents (Lincoln in 2010, Pryor in 2014) is remarkable.  Amazing to see what has happened in Arkansas in such a short time.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Could your mum be a battleground state though

[beaver2.0]

No.

[Wisconsin+17]

MS, and LA are more likely to flip than Arkansas, surprisingly.

[Fuzzy Bear]

MS, and LA are more likely to flip than Arkansas, surprisingly.

Very true.

This is because Arkansas has the lowest black population of any Southern state and it's white population is mostly Scots-Irish folks, even now.

I can't emphasize enough how the Democrats' slide amongst white voters is not uniform.  It is the white Scot-Irish folks, many of whom live in the South and Border states, that have produced a disproportionate number of defections from the Democratic ranks at all levels.  These voters have certain qualities that drive this.  One is that they are, disproportionately, living in places where coal is a big deal.  But that's only part of it.  Another is that these folks disproportionately are churchgoers, own guns, and have a socially conservative outlook on all issues, even when they are economically liberal.  An additional factor is that these folks are intensely patriotic; they produce a huge percentage of America's soldiers and sailors. 

Underscoring all of this is that these folks have a minimal sense of ethnic identity.  They view themselves as "Americans", pure and simply.  They don't really view themselves as Scottish or Irish; they identify themselves as Americans, and their roots in this country go back to Colonial days.  They have never looked with favor on appeals to folks as hyphenated Americans, and, as such, are not likely to look with favor on the kind of racial, ethnic, and gender politics the Democratic Party has used to boost its majorities. 

These are the folks that are driving the GOP trends in WV, TN, KY, MO, AR, and in the mountain regions of VA and NC.  Virginia's "Fighting 9th" CD was once a liberal district that elected a liberal Democrat; now, it's all the way with the GOP and not likely to switch back.  If this hadn't happened, VA would be out of reach for the GOP today to the point where it would be at the level of MI in the Democratic column.  These are the folks that have made MO and AR solid GOP at all levels.  Of all these areas, only MO shows any sort of possible pathway back for the Democrats.

[Gabagool102]

Could your mum be a battleground state though

Gave me a good chuckle m8.

[sportydude]

If there was a conservative third-party ticket, I'd say yes.
But unfortunately there isn't, so Utah is more likely to vote Democrat than is Arkansas.

[Angrie]

Arkansas will probably vote similarly to Utah. If Clinton wins by enough to win Utah (maybe by 10-15 points nationally), then she could win Arkansas as well.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

LOL, no.

[LLR]

Arkansas and Alabama will both be key battleground states if Trump drops out of the race a week before election day.

[Joe Biden is your president. Deal with it.]

If it was 1996 lol.

[Gabagool102]

Will Donald Trump's nomination and Hillary Clinton's nomination as well as Bill Clinton's heritage make Arkansas a battleground state in the General Election on November 8 2016?

Depends, if Clinton pour's some money into it, then it could become competitive.

[nclib]

Of course not. A better question is would Ark. trend Democrat due to Hillary and Bill's roots. Probably barely, though it's the kind of place Trump would overperform.

[Figueira]

I think Clinton could win a 40-state landslide and still lose Arkansas.

[President Johnson]

No, it willbe TRUMP territory.

[sportydude]

With the right running mate, it could become competitive.
Think of Brian Schweitzer, Joe Manchin, Tim Kaine or Brad Henry; they would make Arkansas viable.

[President Johnson]

With the right running mate, it could become competitive.
Think of Brian Schweitzer, Joe Manchin, Tim Kaine or Brad Henry; they would make Arkansas viable.

I doubt it. Willard won it with over 60%. No way Hillary wins here, just because Bill was governor twenty-five years ago. Too many conservatives and evangelicals.