Joe Manchin’s Popularity Sinking In W.V. After Derailing Dem Agenda

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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, West Virginia had the sixth highest poverty rate in the country. If any population needed economic help, it was them. Although the state almost never votes for Democratic candidates, Manchin campaigned his way to the Senate in 2012 and 2018.

Manchin may find that his own supporters are ready to abandon him for his attempts to stay “moderate” and fight against Democratic legislation because it compromises his standing with donors from the coal industry. President Joe Biden’s expanded child tax credit has provided much-needed funds for families after COVID-19, but the poverty rate in West Virginia already necessitated some form of relief. Manchin’s constituents have had enough of being left behind as Manchin tries to appease the right wing.

According to The Washington Post:

‘Appearing on CNN in September, the moderate Democrat from West Virginia implied that he would not support extending the monthly payments, which come in the form of an expanded child tax credit (CTC), without changes. “There’s no work requirements whatsoever,” he said. “There’s no education requirements whatsoever for better skill sets. Don’t you think, if we’re going to help the children, that the people should make some effort?”’

The answer to that question, Senator Manchin, is no. Childcare is work even though families are paid for it, and families in West Virginia who do work and pay taxes who are eligible for the tax credit are tired of Manchin painting them as lazy and entitled. Grandmother Ruth Johnson, who is raising her grandchildren, told The Washington Post that:

‘We want Manchin to take a little bit more active role in protecting us as far as West Virginians. We’re not a bunch of deadbeats. We work for a living and we’re due.’

West Virginia’s economy would benefit greatly from its residents having more money to put back in the economy, and the need for relief such as the expanded child tax credit is felt all over the state.

‘In West Virginia, 170,000 children became newly eligible under the tax credit expansion, which was included in Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package passed in March. The changes to the tax credit raised the maximum benefit from $2,000 to $3,600 per child per year and dramatically expanded the share of poor families receiving the credit. In July, the food insecurity rate in West Virginia households with children dropped from 11.6 percent to 8.4 percent, and in September a survey found 86 percent of West Virginians felt the payments had made a “huge difference.”’