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The 2016 Election Earthquake: Pacific County And The Future Of The Democratic Party In Rural Areas, Matthew Dayton
The 2016 Election Earthquake: Pacific County And The Future Of The Democratic Party In Rural Areas, Matthew Dayton
CMC Senior Theses
Pacific County was one of 206 counties nationwide to vote for President Trump in 2016 after voting for President Obama in 2008 and 2012. These counties were pivotal for Trump’s victory in 2016, and will continue to be crucial in the 2020 election and beyond. This paper uses an ethnographic method to understand why Pacific County flipped to vote for a Republican after voting for Democratic presidential candidates every cycle since 1952.
My findings suggest that the shift began with the long decline of the natural resource industry in the area. As industry diminished, unions became weaker, and they could …