2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhat's going on in Oklahoma?
Of all of the polling, projections and predictions during this primary season, the ones related to Oklahoma are the most surprising to me. The state is currently very competitive and Sanders has a strong chance to win the state - one of the most evangelical Republican states in the country. For all intents and purposes, OK acts and votes like a southern state even though it doesn't have the same minority population percentages as southern states.
On paper, the state would seem to be heavily supportive of Hillary, like its neighbors Texas and Hillary's old home state of Arkansas. Yet unlike those two states, Bernie is running strongly in OK. Is there an explanation or formula here? Does Bernie have a huge ground game there? Is it due to the Dems in the state being confined largely to Oklahoma City, Tulsa and (college town) Stillwater? Is it related to the current slump in the oil market? Is there another reason or set of reasons?
I am not trying to start another war between supporters of the two candidates. I'm simply curious why this state seems to be so different from its reliably similar neighbors.
itsrobert
(14,157 posts)Not much diversity.
White: 72.2%
Black or African American: 7.4%
Native American: 8.6%
Asian: 1.7% (0.4% Vietnamese, 0.3% Indian, 0.2% Chinese, 0.2% Korean, 0.2% Filipino, 0.1% Hmong, 0.1% Japanese)
Pacific Islander: 0.1%
BlueMTexpat
(15,369 posts)OK apparently has a higher number of white voters than other states in the "South."
Anecdotal, I know: I phone-banked last week, calling OK Dem voters, and only one person stated that he was for Bernie. Others either said "Hillary," "undecided," not voting, or voting GOP. "Undecided" was decidedly in the majority.
Barack_America
(28,876 posts)Out of curiosity, did you identify who you were phone banking for?
BlueMTexpat
(15,369 posts)sentence (Hillary Clinton) and no one slammed the phone down in disgust, LOL.
These were all registered Dems, supposedly. Many didn't answer (likely using Caller ID, LOL), some numbers were no longer valid and some of those listed had passed away, but others at the house responded to my questions.
Everyone I reached was very courteous.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)However, Oklahoma has more Native American voters. Bernie got a lot of good press among Native Americans when he visited the Meskwaki community in Iowa, and he won 83% of their vote.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/09/04/bernie-sanders-iowa-meskwaki-cedar-rapids/71599838/
Bernie has also announced the creation of a Native American policy committee to develop and guide his tribal policy platform.
Source: teleSUR
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Bernie-Sanders-Courts-Native-American-Voters-20160214-0008.html
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)Oklahoma has a large NA population which votes Democrat most of the time. College towns like Norman and Stillwater are pretty evenly split between Bernie and Hillary. OKC and Tulsa have large AA populations and then there is Tinker AFB which will vote Republican. Oklahoma is diverse in resources so oil plays a factor but not necessarily a large one. As far as I can tell, Okie Country is pretty supportive of Hillary but I don't think it would hurt for Bernie to put resources there. He needs to go to Norman and Stillwater.
KingFlorez
(12,689 posts)Seeing as cabinet, that gives her a connection and Oklahoma is hugely anti-Obama, even in the Democratic primary.
PonyUp
(1,680 posts)Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)This one's new and improved.
I *think*. Isn't Sanders the "bad guy" on guns ow?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)The list of litmus tests has grown exponentially since then.
MuseRider
(34,111 posts)here in Kansas too. I don't know the numbers but have been told by those who have their fingers in the deep game that he has a pretty decent chance.
Behind the Aegis
(53,959 posts)I am in the northeast and I have only seen Sanders supporters. I have yet to see one Clinton supporter. That's simply what I have observed. It has been interesting to see Clinton and Sanders ads on TV though. The first time I saw a Clinton ad on Fox, I thought I was having a stroke!
It will be interesting to see what type of reception he gets tomorrow in Tulsa.