theepochtimes.com
Michael Sakal
16-21 minutes
VIGO COUNTY, INDIANA—When it comes to being a good indicator of voting for the winning presidential candidate, Vigo County in northwest Indiana is “The Real Thing.”
That was the advertising slogan Coca-Cola had in the 1970s, which perhaps is appropriate for what is considered the most reliable bellwether county in the United States.
The county seat of Vigo County is Terre Haute (pop. 60,673) and is the birthplace of the iconic contour Coca-Cola bottle that has been featured on many of the soft drink’s signs and ads since 1915.
Chapman Jay Root who owned the Root Glass Company in Terre Haute, Indiana, and a team of his workers, designed the Coca-Cola contour bottle in 1915. The bottle is considered the most recognizable container in the world. Vigo County, where the bottle was designed, also is known as the most reliable bellwether county in the United States. (Michael Sakal/The Epoch Times)
Since 1888, Vigo County has missed voting for the presidential winner just three times—in 1910 when it supported Democrat William Jennings Bryan over Republican William Howard Taft, in 1952 when it picked Adlai Stevenson (D) over Dwight D. Eisenhower (R), and in 2020 when it selected Donald Trump (R) over Joe Biden (D), by 24,545 to 18,123 votes.
For 60 years, Vigo County, an eclectic area of sorts, hit the mark in 16 straight presidential elections from 1956 to 2016 perhaps showing that Democrats and Republicans vote in sync for whoever they believe would do the best job in the Oval Office.
However, like 18 of the 19 top bellwether counties in the United States which had a perfect record between 1980 and 2016—there was only one that got it right in 2020—Clallam County in Washington State. Biden defeated Trump there and ultimately became president.
In the 2016 Presidential Election, Trump won Vigo County by defeating Hilary Clinton 21,937 to 15,931 votes.
Nestled in the heart of the heartland in the Midwest, the county seat of Terre Haute is literally at the Crossroads of America. Wabash Avenue and 7th Street in the city’s downtown was the original gateway to the west and part of the Federal Highway Transportation System in 1926.
The county’s smaller cities include West Terre Haute, North Terre Haute, Tecumseh, Allendale, and Toad Hop (pop. 216).
More than 90 years ago, the railroad tracks near the Wabash River were the inspiration for the song “The Wabash Cannonball” about the roar and rumble of a mythical train that took hobos on their last ride and carried their souls to heaven. The tune remains a signature song of the Indiana State University Sycamores and the Purdue All-American Marching Band.
The song, which was made popular by country and western singer Roy Acuff, is part of the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 songs that Shaped Rock’n’ Roll List, and is the oldest song on the list.
The area also was the home of Eugene V. Debs, a champion for workers’ rights who ran for president as a socialist five times in the early 20th Century, and the home of Indiana State University and the Candles Holocaust Museum.
Since 1888, Vigo County residents have voted for the presidential candidate that has won the White House most of the time. Vigo County only has missed the mark three times since then—in 1910, 1952 and in 2020—when 18 of the 19 top bellwether counties supported Donald Trump, but missed the mark. (Michael Sakal/The Epoch Times)
Vigo County, which has a population of slightly more than 107,000, also supported Trump in the 2016 election. The median age in the county is 36 years old, and the median household income is $52,364 as it holds steady with an unemployment rate of slightly less than 2 percent, according to information from Vigo County. The median home price in the county is $130,000 and has risen slightly over the past two years.
Now, during the second year of Biden in the White House, residents are feeling the belt of inflation tightening and it’s expected to get worse.
People are beginning to cut back on food at the grocery.
Gas prices are hovering around $4 a gallon in the county as the oil reserves in the United States are being used.
The contents being loaded from shopping carts into vehicles were reduced as residents with good incomes or retirees with good jobs in the past spoke about reconfiguring their budgets due to getting much less bang for their buck.
Unlike many counties in other states, the Indiana Elections Board doesn’t divide up its county’s political parties by its 73,419 registered voters.
“In Indiana, you’re a voter,” said a man who works for the Vigo County Elections Board. “We don’t divide it up. In our primary elections, you don’t have to vote along party lines. You can vote the way you want.”
Like most mid-size cities during the first half of the 20th Century, many companies and manufacturers were household names—Clabber Girl Baking Soda, Pillsbury, Sony and Columbia House—that made records and tapes, the Root Glass Company, Stran Steel, and Bemis that made plastic bags.
There also were the factories that lined the Wabash River, which now is seeing some waterfront development.
But, many of those places are long gone, and residents currently are excited about a planned Hard Rock Casino and hotel project scheduled to break ground in June and create hundreds of jobs.
The former site of Root Glass on the corner of U.S. 41 and Voorhees Street—where the Coca-Cola bottle was designed and was selected by the soft drink giant in a competition in Atlanta in 1915, now is where a Thorntons gas station and convenience store is.
Like most mid-size America cities throughout the Midwest, Terre Haute, Indiana, in Vigo County once was home to many factories and businesses that were household names and provided good-paying jobs. One of them was the Root Glass Company that designed the contour Coca-Cola bottle in 1915. (Michael Sakal/The Epoch Times)
Many of the county’s residents are aware of its fame in both the birthplace of the contour Coke bottle that is considered the most recognizable container in the world and voting for the candidate who wins the White House.
“Vigo County is known for that,” Steven Perry of Terre Haute told The Epoch Times of its bellwether status. “Our picks are sometimes good, sometimes bad.”
Perry showed his true political color, which was similar to the overall mood of people who weighed in on the area’s and country’s state of affairs on the blustery days of April 18-19: Blue.
Perry, 59, of Terre Haute. He retired from the receiving department of Pfizer in 1999 after working there for 18 years. His father retired from Stran Steel after 31 years.
“My family is a strong-politically-minded family,” Perry, 59, added. “We’re a Democratic family. Would I vote for Trump? Never. Never Trump and hopefully, Trump never again. He’s got money, he’s got power, but I don’t think he was good for the country. I think the presidency for him was just another notch on his belt.”
Steven Perry, 59, of Terre Haute, Ind., is aware that Vigo County where he lives is perhaps the most reliable bellwether county in the United States in picking the winning presidential candidate. However, Perry has voted Democratic all his life ad believes the current administration is doing a good job. (Michael Sakal/The Epoch Times)
“I voted for Joe Biden, and I voted for Hillary Clinton,” Perry added. “I always vote Democratic. My family would role over in their graves if I voted Republican.
Perry said he believed Vigo County votes largely based on how the economy is going.
“Here, we’re not happy with the price or housing,” Perry said. “The roads are bad, pollution is bad—there’s a smell to Terre Haute—it smells like raw fish. There’s a lot of homeless people here, I never used to see so many homeless people.
“Those people don’t care about themselves. We need to get back to creating jobs. We really don’t have any industry here.”
Perry went on to say he believed that the Democrats were doing a “great job,” but many others disagreed.
As other residents left the Vigo County Courthouse, Walmart, the Meijer superstore, and gas station parking lots on April 18-19 they talked about the issues they thought were important heading into the May 3 Primary Election: the pain of paying at the gas pump, and not getting as much food at the grocery store for their money due to inflation.
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