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US President Donald Trump stood in front of thousands of supporters at a packed arena rally here in Johnstown, western Pennsylvania, and made promises 4 years ago. He delivered his words in the roaring coal region and said, “Your jobs will come back under a Trump administration. Your steel will come back, your energy will be protected, it will be a whole different ball game. We’re also going to unleash the power of American energy right here in Pennsylvania: shale, oil, natural gas, clean coal, and all the new infrastructures that come along with it”. Point to be noted that it was the same stump speech he had made across the rust belt throughout his insurgent campaign.

The voters in blue-collar towns across rural Pennsylvania and across Appalachia responded to that message after 3 weeks with signs reading “Trump digs coal”. Rural Pennsylvania is often disparagingly referred to as Pennsyltucky. People who live there are seen as more socially conservative and religious and as counting gun rights and abortion as key issues. The Democrats traditionally drew strength here from powerful unions in the steel mills and coal mines. It left a socially conservative population who had less of an economic incentive to vote for socially liberal Democrats. In Johnstown, Cambria County, Obama won here in 2008 with 50% of the vote. He defeated Mitt Romney 58 -42 in his second term.

President Trump built on that lead and won with 67% in 2016. He built on similar leads in neighboring Somerset County and won with 76% and 82% in Bedford County. These gains were important in helping Trump to win in Pennsylvania by just 44,292 votes out of more than 6 million. A 40-year coal mining veteran, Zimmerman believes people here need more help from the federal government. He said, “We’ve got to look to the future and I would like to see other opportunities and help from the federal government and the state government to help us bring in some new industry. There will be a lot of changes over the next few years, but if you shut the coal industry down now you won’t be able to turn on your light switches. People here think Democrats are going to close the coal industry and the gas industry”.