There's Even Good News For Hillary And The Democrats In A Red Hellhole Like Idaho

Idaho is one of the reddest-- and whitest-- states in the country. In 2008, Obama won just 36.09% of the votes there. Only Utah, Oklahoma and Wyoming gave him less support. In 2012 Obama's vote in Idaho fell to 32.62%, lower than Oklahoma's and beaten out in the race for the bottom just by Wyoming and Utah. The state's whole congressional delegation is Republican, as are all the statewide elected officials. Only 7 out of 35 state senators are Democrats and of the 70 members of the state House, only 14 are Democrats. In some of the more neo-Nazi counties, Obama had his lowest support anywhere in America-- Franklin- 6%, Madison- 6%, Oneida- 10%, Bear Lake-11%, Jefferson- 11%, Caribou- 13%, Cassia- 13%, and Fremont- 14%. This year Hillary isn't polling as badly as Obama did. She's even winning (narrowly) in Teton County, where Obama lost to Romney 54-43%. She's also essentially tied Trump in Shoshone, Ada and Valley counties. And in the two Utah counties that Obama won-- Blaine and Latah-- Hillary is eviscerating Trump by even bigger margins, up by 34 points in Blaine for example.

The biggest newspaper in the state,the Idaho Statesman asked every legislative candidate in the southern half of the state that the paper covers if they support their party's presidential candidate. Remember, neither Trump nor Hillary came out ahead in primary season. Bernie won every county but Lewis and took 78.0% of the caucus votes (18,640 to Hillary's 5,065) and Trump came in a district second to Ted Cruz, 100,942 (45.4%) to 62,478 (28.1%).

In state legislative races, candidates bobbed and weaved around giving a straight answer on the endorsement question. The rundown in 48 Southern Idaho contests:

• Of 36 Democrats running, 21 said they supported Clinton, some with glowing praise, others with reservations.
• Of 45 Republicans, 16 said they supported Trump. Most cited even stronger reservations or said they backed him only out of party loyalty.

Reading through the responses by the Democrats, they almost all seem pretty enthusiastic about Hillary's qualifications and preparedness. The Republicans were generally not enthused about Trump at all. Most said he's better than Clinton or something like what state Senator Patti Anne Lodge said: "He was not my first or second, third or fourth choice, but he is our nominee" or what State Rep Gary Collins said: "Donald Trump is not my first choice or second choice. But I will not vote for the Clintons." GOP Rep Robert Anderst was one of the few to go a little further: "Trump "hasn't earned my support... Will I vote for our nominee? If I do it will be for the platform of my party not the candidate." Republican state Senator Lori Hartog went further: "I have never been a supporter of Donald Trump because I do not believe he truly embodies conservative principles and what the republican party stands for including limited government, personal responsibility, and constitutionally protected freedoms.... I will be voting for a third party candidate."


Newesla polled over 384K US students across the country in all 50 states about their presidential choices and it was a Hillary landslide, taking 57% to Trump's 32%. She even won in deep red strongholds like Texas, Georgia, Alaska, Louisiana, South Carolina and... yes, Idaho. It was very close there but, it bodes well for changes in the future.

Other state results: