And how many WV voters register as “unaffiliated” or “Independent”?
At year end 289K were registered with no party affiliation and 50K were registered with minor partys. Obviously either D's or R's in WV cannot elect a candidate without help from the squishy middle.
https://sos.wv.gov/elections/Pages/VoteRegTotals.aspx
The article says 22% in the part excerpted.
The political leaning of that 22% is very important considering that the parties are basically even.
Better look at the political leanings of a state Presidential election results. That is showing a clear conservative trend.
Year Republicans Democrats
2020 68.62% 545,382 29.69% 235,984
2016 68.50% 489,371 26.43% 188,794
2012 62.14% 417,655 35.45% 238,269
2008 55.58% 397,466 42.49% 303,857
2004 56.06% 423,778 43.20% 326,541
2000 51.92% 336,475 45.59% 295,497
It is also interesting that in a state that has lost 50,000 people in the last ten years had 80,000 more voters in 2020 than 2008.