Mining's contribution to the recent U.S. presidential election was nicely captured in the interactions of the two leading candidates with coal miners in the Appalachians. In March 2016, Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton, in touting her support of Democrat-friendly alternative energy industries, memorably told a town hall meeting in the hard-hit coal-mining state of West Virginia that "we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." She later apologized for the comment. (Clinton ended up losing the state to Donald Trump, despite its substantial union presence, garnering only 26% of the vote compared to Trump's 69%, and well off Barack Obama's 36% tally in the 2012 presidential election.)
展开▼
