How do West Virginia's voters feel about social issues?

[darklordoftech]

How do West Virginia's voters feel about issues such as crime, abortion, guns, LGBT rights, war, and surveillance? Did they vote for Dukakis in 1988 in spite of his views on these issues, because of his views, or with apathy about these issues?

[smoltchanov]

Well, there are people of every sort in the state, but mostly - pro-life, pro-gun, tough on crime, cautious (at least) on LGBT rights. No idea about war and surveillance, but supoose -  leans to "patriotism"on the first and "tolerance" of the last. So - mostly in spite. BTW, economic issues were much more important then then social ones (and West Virginia is relatively populist on them), and Democratic party - much less liberal then now. Dianne Feinstein was considered a solid liberal then, anf Richard Shelby,  Sonny Montgomery and Ralph Hall (among other) were "respected Democratic Congressmen (Senator in Shelby's case)" then. Even Dan Daniel (one of the former leaders of Harry Bird Sr. "machine" in Virginia legislature) served in Congress until 1988 as a Democrat... When it was possible to be a Democrat without being social liberal - West Virginia voted mostly Democratic. When this became virtually impossible - it (as almost all South) finally went Republican.

[Tintrlvr]

Well, there are people of every sort in the state, but mostly - pro-life, pro-gun, tough on crime, cautious (at least) on LGBT rights. No idea about war and surveillance, but supoose -  leans to "patriotism"on the first and "tolerance" of the last. So - mostly in spite. BTW, economic issues were much more important then then social ones (and West Virginia is relatively populist on them), and Democratic party - much less liberal then now. Dianne Feinstein was considered a solid liberal then, anf Richard Shelby,  Sonny Montgomery and Ralph Hall (among other) were "respected Democratic Congressmen (Senator in Shelby's case)" then. Even Dan Daniel (one of the former leaders of Harry Bird Sr. "machine" in Virginia legislature) served in Congress until 1988 as a Democrat... When it was possible to be a Democrat without being social liberal - West Virginia voted mostly Democratic. When this became virtually impossible - it (as almost all South) finally went Republican.

Let's not spin this. "Anti-LGBT" is the only way to describe the attitude.

[muon2]

Some of the issues in the OP like LGBT were not relevant in 1988, and some of those that were like abortion did not drive the electorate the way they do today. Global warming was a decade away from the national debate and Appalachian coal country was still with the Dems.

[RINO Tom]

This is from 2014, but the attached link has a poll by state on abortion (http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/compare/views-about-abortion/by/state/), and here was West Virginia:

58% Illegal in most cases
35% Legal in most cases
6% Don't know

[smoltchanov]

Well, there are people of every sort in the state, but mostly - pro-life, pro-gun, tough on crime, cautious (at least) on LGBT rights. No idea about war and surveillance, but supoose -  leans to "patriotism"on the first and "tolerance" of the last. So - mostly in spite. BTW, economic issues were much more important then then social ones (and West Virginia is relatively populist on them), and Democratic party - much less liberal then now. Dianne Feinstein was considered a solid liberal then, anf Richard Shelby,  Sonny Montgomery and Ralph Hall (among other) were "respected Democratic Congressmen (Senator in Shelby's case)" then. Even Dan Daniel (one of the former leaders of Harry Bird Sr. "machine" in Virginia legislature) served in Congress until 1988 as a Democrat... When it was possible to be a Democrat without being social liberal - West Virginia voted mostly Democratic. When this became virtually impossible - it (as almost all South) finally went Republican.

Let's not spin this. "Anti-LGBT" is the only way to describe the attitude.

Basically - yes. I simply tried to be polite and "positive" to people of West Virginia))))

[darklordoftech]

Some of the issues in the OP like LGBT were not relevant in 1988, and some of those that were like abortion did not drive the electorate the way they do today. Global warming was a decade away from the national debate and Appalachian coal country was still with the Dems.

Why didn't abortion drive the electorate the way it does today? Roe v. Wade had already been around for some time.

[VPH]

Some of the issues in the OP like LGBT were not relevant in 1988, and some of those that were like abortion did not drive the electorate the way they do today. Global warming was a decade away from the national debate and Appalachian coal country was still with the Dems.

Why didn't abortion drive the electorate the way it does today? Roe v. Wade had already been around for some time.

Wasn't quite as politicized. First, the Summer of Mercy hadn't happened and groups like Operation Rescue were still fledgling. Additionally, there were many pro-choice GOPers and pro-life Dems, so abortion wasn't a partisan thing.

[IceSpear]

Crime - Pro-locking up darkies, against breaking up Neo-Nazi/KKK marches.
Abortion - A zygote/blastula is a human being with full rights, and women who get abortions should be punished.
Guns - No restrictions whatsoever, or else you're a communist.
LGBT rights - Anti-everything. Would pass/support Russia-esque "propaganda laws" if they could get away with it. They might not go as far as Iran or Saudi Arabia. Maybe.
War - Support blindly, unless it's a Democrat/darkie/woman starting one.
Surveillance - Support blindly, unless it's a Democrat/darkie/woman surveilling.

[darklordoftech]

Some of the issues in the OP like LGBT were not relevant in 1988, and some of those that were like abortion did not drive the electorate the way they do today. Global warming was a decade away from the national debate and Appalachian coal country was still with the Dems.

Why didn't abortion drive the electorate the way it does today? Roe v. Wade had already been around for some time.

Wasn't quite as politicized. First, the Summer of Mercy hadn't happened and groups like Operation Rescue were still fledgling. Additionally, there were many pro-choice GOPers and pro-life Dems, so abortion wasn't a partisan thing.

Interesting. Abortion is the main reason that my mother voted for Carter in 1980, Mondale in 1984, and Dukakis in 1988.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I think we determined a while back that West Virginia used to be to the left of Kentucky, but now it's to the right, since Kentucky actually has a couple major cities.

[muon2]

Some of the issues in the OP like LGBT were not relevant in 1988, and some of those that were like abortion did not drive the electorate the way they do today. Global warming was a decade away from the national debate and Appalachian coal country was still with the Dems.

Why didn't abortion drive the electorate the way it does today? Roe v. Wade had already been around for some time.

Issues that are associated with the Christian right really started to surface in the 1992 election after the Murphy Brown speech by Quayle (which proved to be ahead of its time in terms of mobilizing that part of the electorate). In 1988 it was an issue that only affected a small part of the electorate concerned about judicial appointments, particularly SCOTUS. Reagan spoke to the issue in a way that impressed that part of the electorate, but basically took no action so few voters had it on their radar.

[Thunderbird is the word]

Crime - Pro-locking up darkies, against breaking up Neo-Nazi/KKK marches.
Abortion - A zygote/blastula is a human being with full rights, and women who get abortions should be punished.
Guns - No restrictions whatsoever, or else you're a communist.
LGBT rights - Anti-everything. Would pass/support Russia-esque "propaganda laws" if they could get away with it. They might not go as far as Iran or Saudi Arabia. Maybe.
War - Support blindly, unless it's a Democrat/darkie/woman starting one.
Surveillance - Support blindly, unless it's a Democrat/darkie/woman surveilling.

We get it, you hate West Virginia