Democrats’ old Kentucky home drifts farther away

Published May 20, 2016 5:04pm ET



It was lost on no one how close Sen. Bernie Sanders, R-Ky., came to upsetting Hillary Clinton in Kentucky’s Democratic primary on Tuesday. One thing that has been somewhat overlooked, however, is the dramatic decline in turnout from 2008.

In 2008, Clinton received more than 459,000 as she defeated Barack Obama in Kentucky. This year, only 455,000 votes were cast overall for all candidates combined. The 35 percent drop-off in participation could be attributed in part to the fact that Clinton has the race sewn up already. Then again, so did Obama in 2008. And there’s another factor in play here, too.

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