America's poorest county is also one of the most Republican ones

[minionofmidas]

I think I would have expected the nation's poorest county to be Shannon in South Dakota.

Quite. It usually is.

[minionofmidas]

They've always been Republican. This isn't because of social issues or whatever, but because they were anti-secession in the Civil War, and like Eastern Tennessee, have always voted GOP.

And because it's not a coal county. Those went over to the Democrats during the New Deal.

[minionofmidas]

Interestingly, Jackson County did vote for Teddy Roosevelt in 1912, and with over 50% too. But if the economy is like that it's tough to pin down why he'd have special appeal over Taft (it was the only Roosevelt county in that area too, all the surrounding ones on the south and sides went Taft except one very narrowly for Wilson, and all the northern ones for Wilson.)

Some kind of personal connection most likely - a local Republican bigwig coming down in Roosevelt's support.