Yesterday the AP published an article about the last remaining Democratic primaries, in which the author madde a breezy, unsupported assertion that South Dakota's demographics are a lot like West Virginia, and therefore favor Hillary.  As a South Dakotan who follows politics, I found his basic premise so far off I wondered if he bothered to do even the slightest amount of work.

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Yesterday the AP published an article about the last remaining Democratic primaries, in which the author madde a breezy, unsupported assertion that South Dakota's demographics are a lot like West Virginia, and therefore favor Hillary. As a South Dakotan who follows politics, I found his basic premise so far off I wondered if he bothered to do even the slightest amount of work.

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Basically, the AP reporter said that South Dakota's demographics favored Hillary because South Dakota was like West Virginia. Never mind that:

1. South Dakota's voters have a lot more in common with North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Iowa, and Minnesota than they do with voters in Appalachia.  Note that in all the states bordering South Dakota, Obama won, often overwhelmingly.  South Dakota's one remaining border state that has not yet voted is Montana, and Obama is favored there.

1. South Dakota is actually less white than West Virginia:  WV ~95% white, SD ~87% white (source: US Census Bureau).

1. South Dakota's principal minority group is Native Americans (~9% of the population), which is quite unlike West Virginia.  Note that it is conceivable that different minority groups might have different priorities and preferences when they vote.

Nope, none of those facts made their way into the pundit's analysis. The standard narrative is, "South Dakota is mostly white and rural; therefore it's just like West Virginia; therefore it's favorable to Hillary."  End of story.

That's not to say Hillary might not do well here, but the entire premise was wrong. Honestly, this primary season's stupid, lazy "reporting" and bloviating by pundits is like an elephant sitting on my head.  Make it stop!