Georgia strongholds offer clues about presidential rivals’ strengths

Population breakdown:

White*: 56.9 percent

Black: 17.9 percent

Hispanic: 23.9 percent

*White is defined by the Census Bureau as White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, July 1, 2014

Other key data:

Median household income*: $30,403 (National average: $53,482)

Residents without health insurance**: 27.9 percent (National average: 12.0 percent)

Residents in poverty: 26.5 percent (National average 14.8 percent)

Building permits, 2015: 0

* Median household income is based on the years 2010-2014 and is measured in 2014 dollars.

** Residents without health insurance applies to people under the age of 65.

Atkinson’s immigrant population

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that foreign-born residents account for 13.2 percent of Atkinson County’s population, nearly the same as the national average of 13.1 percent. But in Atkinson, 90.9 percent of those foreign-born residents are not naturalized U.S. citizens, compared with the national average of 54.2 percent.

In Atkinson, 96.5 percent of its foreign-born residents are from Latin America, compared with the national average of 52.2 percent.

Spanish is spoken in 20.4 percent of Atkinson’s homes. The national average is 13.0 percent.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Quitman County

Population: 2,302

Population change since 2010: -8.4 percent (National average: 4.1 percent)

Population breakdown:

White: 50.4 percent

Black: 47.5 percent

Hispanic: 1.4 percent

*White is defined by the Census Bureau as White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, July 1, 2014

Other key data:

Median household income*: $30,313 (National average: $53,482)

Residents without health insurance**: 20.7 percent (National average: 12.0 percent)

Residents in poverty: 29.5 percent (National average 14.8 percent)

Building permits, 2015: 1

* Median household income is based on the years 2010-2014 and is measured in 2014 dollars.

** Residents without health insurance applies to people under the age of 65.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The wildest and most unpredictable presidential primary season in decades came to a clattering end last week as Hillary Clinton clinched the Democratic nomination and Donald Trump welcomed her to the general election contest with a new blistering critique.

The two candidates are now free to pivot their full attention to the November race, and Georgia could be a major factor in both campaigns’ strategies.

Democrats are hoping to put Georgia in the blue column for the first time since Bill Clinton won the state in 1992, pointing to changing demographics and a hope that Trump will alienate suburban women who typically vote for the GOP. The former president will visit Atlanta for a Tuesday conversation with another ex-White House occupant, Jimmy Carter.

Trump’s campaign is confident he can hold onto Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, and Republicans who once staunchly opposed his rise are rallying, if sometimes reluctantly, behind their candidate. He’s headed to Atlanta on Wednesday for a fundraiser with Gov. Nathan Deal and U.S. Sen. David Perdue.

To win in November, both candidates must mobilize their most devoted supporters. In Atkinson County, which Trump won by the widest margin in Georgia’s March 1 GOP primary, his stance on immigration could help bring voters to the polls. Hillary Clinton’s experience could be her biggest draw in Quitman County, the site of her strongest performance in the Democratic contest.

Both Atkinson and Quitman are rural, poor and home to frustrated residents who feel forgotten by both Atlanta and Washington — and hopeful that the next White House resident can live up to their sky-high expectations.

PEARSON – They lament the struggling economy, the overburdened local schools, the distrust in Washington and the sense that Hispanic immigrants are threatening American values.

The people in Atkinson County echo what many Donald Trump supporters across the state say when pressed on why they supported the billionaire political newcomer. They just echoed it more loudly.

Atkinson, one of the smallest and poorest counties in Georgia, gave Trump more than 65 percent of the vote in the state’s March primary. It was Trump’s biggest margin of victory in the state, and it’s a fact that Atkinson residents wear with honor.

“People around here are old-fashioned. We believe in God. We believe in raising kids right. We are sick of corruption in the government. And we are waiting for somebody to treat us right,’ said Michael Joyner, the owner of Coolies BBQ. “Trump is different. He’s not perfect and he won’t be perfect. But I believe he’ll put our people back to work.”

Like much of the rest of rural Georgia, Atkinson was once a Democratic bastion that slowly switched to the GOP column. The economy of this county about 220 miles southeast of Atlanta hinges on blueberry and tobacco farms, and its county seat of Pearson boasts a well-maintained courthouse, a couple of fast-food restaurants and a few quirky shops.

But underneath the quaint veneer is a bubbling anxiety about Atkinson’s changing demographics. The county of fewer than 9,000 people has had a surge in Latino newcomers, mostly from Mexico and Guatemala, and nearly one-quarter of its residents are now Hispanic. That’s among the highest shares of Latinos in any Georgia county.

Delane Mullis, who owns a tire store on the county’s main drag, put a voice to the unrest about the rising Latino population. He’s particularly worried about the Hispanics who are migrating from working the fields to buying businesses in Pearson.

“We are actually loaded down with a lot of Mexicans and Hispanics. They’ve bought this little town up — the hotel, the convenience store,” Mullis said. “We’ve worked all our lives and we wonder how they could afford it. They come here for farming, but they don’t leave. It’s a big problem — they are taking all the jobs.”

He pauses for a moment to rap the desk he’s standing behind at his shop.

“That’s exactly why the wall is so popular,” he said, invoking Trump’s plan to build a wall on the Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants. “Truly, everything he says is dead-on about our borders.”

His friend Regina Lankford puffs on a cigarette as she listens to Mullis talk.

“We don’t mind legal immigrants, but you just can’t keep letting people illegally cross the border,” she said when he finishes. “It’s not the Hispanics’ fault — they know if they get here we will just give them everything.”

Across the street, Oscar Gaona juggles a phone in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other. He’s the only barber in town, and he’s also something of a Latino emissary to the community. He’s far from surprised about Trump’s popularity in town, though he speaks in hushed tones about the candidate.

“There are people here who finally have a candidate who thinks like they think — their voice can finally be heard,” said Gaona, who is of Mexican descent. “Remember, we are in the South. The real South. This is it. There are a lot of white people that love Mexicans. But there are a lot that hate us, too.”

Many of the more than a dozen Trump supporters interviewed in Atkinson are expecting great things from the candidate if he wins the White House. Sure, they want him to prevent illegal immigration, but they also hope he can relieve overcrowded schools, beef up the economy and restore luster to American pride.

Pearson Mayor Betty Drayton-Williams, a lifelong Atkinson resident who taught in the county’s schools for 31 years, said she worries some of Trump’s supporters underestimate what he can actually do. She’s a Hillary Clinton supporter, one of a few hundred that backed the Democrat in March.

“He’s saying all these things that people want to hear, but what they don’t realize is that a politician can’t do it by themselves,” she said, motioning to Pearson’s dilapidated downtown. “If I say I’m gonna rebuild this town, they have to know I can’t rebuild it by myself. They really don’t understand politics.”

Trump’s supporters, though, say they know what they’re getting into. Jeffery Warren, who works for a pest control firm, said it’s hard for residents of Atkinson, where the median household income hovers around $30,000, not to be drawn to his message.

“Donald is putting himself in position to say what America wants to hear,” Warren said as he stood outside the local firehouse. “And if he does win the presidency, I guarantee you that the economy will boom. If he wins, the country will boom.”

GEORGETOWN — Most Republicans will tell you what inspires them the most about Donald Trump is the lack of political experience — and the fact that he's not Hillary Clinton. The Democrats here in Quitman County say the exact opposite is driving their support of Clinton.

More than 90 percent of Democratic voters in this isolated county 50 hilly miles south of Columbus picked Clinton over Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, and it took only one or two questions for many of them to summon their enthusiasm for Clinton — and disdain for Trump.

“All he has is a business background. He doesn’t know anything about foreign policy,” said Bob McDonald, who counts himself among Quitman’s most fervent Democrats. “The main thing I want is someone who knows what they’re doing in politics. A business background is just not good enough.”

Quitman sits on the Walter George Reservoir that separates Georgia from Alabama, and its population of roughly 2,300 swells each afternoon as traffic from the more prosperous town of Eufaula, Ala., heads to Michelle’s Restaurant for the $9 all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. (Even the restaurant has a bit of an identity complex – its receipts mistakenly list its address as Eufaula.)

The county, the second-least populous of Georgia’s 159, is such a Democratic stronghold that Republicans have recently targeted it for a pilot effort to build inroads in hostile territory. And hostile it is, at least parts of it. Signs for U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop and other Democrats are all over Georgetown, the tiny county seat.

“Donald Trump scares me. I just feel like if you’re going to be president, you shouldn’t be saying everything that comes to mind,” said Betty Henley, who was sitting outside a well-kept Georgetown home. “I don’t get it. This race is getting scary close.”

McDonald used to work in the textile industry, but he’s been unemployed for the past five years, working odd jobs to scratch out a living. He doesn’t blame Democrats or Republicans for Quitman’s stagnant economy — nearly three out of 10 of the county’s residents live in poverty — but he hopes Clinton can usher in better times.

“I just have a strong feeling she can fix it,” McDonald said. “It feels like we’ve been in an economic depression for years. And we need someone to get us out.”

Many of Clinton’s supporters in Quitman have shining memories of her husband, and they see her as an extension of his presidency in the booming 1990s, when jobs and opportunities in Quitman seemed more plentiful.

“I’m just thinking about the Clinton name. She’s been around for a long time and she’s helped so many people. She’s also been under a lot of scrutiny and she’s come out stronger,” said Steve Jackson, a longtime resident in the area. “At the end of the day, she’s done so much for us.”

Others, such as Joseph Norris, say something else factors in his support: The more she gets attacked, the more he wants to protect her. Norris took a break from working on a beat-up car outside his low-slung house to try to explain.

“Hillary, well, she’s gone through a lot. And if she can get through what she got through — well, that makes her a wonderful person,” he paused, wiping his brow in the sweltering humidity. “I haven’t seen a stronger lady in my life, to take the stuff she takes and come out better for it.”