Retiring Guy's Digest: There they go again: Northwoods Wisconsin residents vote against their best interests

Sunday, December 31, 2023

There they go again: Northwoods Wisconsin residents vote against their best interests

Sheldon Johnson oversees Spooner-based Visions Northwest in the state’s northwestern region. Duringtw an interview on WPR’s "The Morning Show," he identified three facts that hinder a growing workforce in the Wisconsin Northwoods: affordable high-speed internet, housing and child care are a hindrance to an expanding workforce.

Spooner (population 2,573 in 2020 compared to 2,426 in 1930) is located in Washburn County.

As far as expanding your workforce, it doesn't help when a county goes Trumpy, as Washburn did in 2016.

Mitt Romney edged Barack Obama by 1.7 percentage points. Four years later, Trump crushed Hillary Clinton by 23.4 percentage points, and repeated the performance in 2020, besting Joe Biden by 23.7 parentage points.

Source: Wikipedia

Democratic Governor Tony Evers, whose policies align with the Northwoods' workforce needs, received just 38.2% of the vote in 2022 against a GOP candidate who would have enthusiastically continued to promote the Republican Party of Wisconsin 'bootstrap' philosophy.

As GOP majorities in the Assembly and Senate drag their heels on accessible Internet, housing and child care.