United Liberty

It’s unsurprising that President Barack Obama is unpopular in West Virginia, despite the success on Democrats on the state-level. Polls show that his approval rating is hovering in the lows 30’s. But yesterday, Democratic voters in the state sent an even louder message to Obama that they aren’t not pleased with some 40% casting a ballot for a convicted felon:

Just how unpopular is President Obama in some parts of the country? Enough that a man in a Texas prison received four out of 10 votes in West Virginia’s Democratic presidential primary.

Inmate Keith Judd, 53, is serving 17 years for extortion at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution. He was sentenced in 1999 for making threats against the University of New Mexico and is due to be released on June 24 next year.

With 93 per cent of precincts reporting, Obama was receiving just under 60 per cent of the vote to Judd’s 40 percent.

For some West Virginia Democrats, simply running against Obama is enough to get Judd - or Inmate Number 11593-051 - votes.

‘I voted against Obama,’ said Ronnie Brown, a 43-year-old electrician from Cross Lanes who called himself a conservative Democrat.

‘I don’t like him. He didn’t carry the state before and I’m not going to let him carry it again.’

Granted, there probably aren’t many people that knew of Judd’s legal status. However, the discontent is so deep that even Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who has often spoken out against the Obama Administration on energy policy, and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D-WV) won’t say whether or they will support Obama in the upcoming election.

It doesn’t necessarily bode ill for Obama in the fall, after all, polls are decent for him in all in important swing states; of which West Virginia isn’t one. But his re-election is going to be a tough sell for the public, which is why he has been campaigning, not on his record, but on wedge issues. It’s a sign of weakness, not strength.