Does Bette Midler's 'Poor, Illiterate' West Virginia Claim Stand Up to Scrutiny?

Bette Midler, a Broadway and Hollywood actress who in recent years has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of Donald Trump and the Republican party, has come under fire for what many saw as a slight against West Virginia, the home state of Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), after he refused to support Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill.

On Monday December 20, 2021 the Hollywood star tweeted that Manchin "sold us out," because he wants America to be like his state, West Virginia, "Poor, illiterate and strung out."

Social media users pounced on the tweet, accusing her of "elitism" and condescension while also putting the underlying claim under scrutiny. Others defended her stance, pointing out that she was targeting Manchin, and not the people of West Virginia.

Some users countered that West Virginia's literacy rate is above that of California and New York, while others doubled down on their support for Manchin.

Midler later backtracked slightly, tweeting, "I apologize to the good people of WVA for my last outburst," the original tweet continued to fuel conflicting claims and narratives about how West Virginia fares compared to other states.

Newsweek looked at the data to compare how West Virginia ranks with other states in terms of poverty, literacy and drug addiction rates.

Poverty

According to the U.S. Census Bureau data, West Virginia has 15.8 percent of its population below the poverty line, which puts it among the states with highest poverty rates in the country, with only New Mexico, Mississippi, Louisiana and Puerto Rico above it. That is higher than the national average of 13.4 percent.

Additionally, at $46,711 per year, West Virginia also ranks third lowest in the country by median household income, behind only Mississippi and Puerto Rico. So that part of Midler's claim appears to be broadly accurate.

Literacy

When it comes to gauging literacy and education levels, however, the picture is a bit more mixed.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, which gathered the literacy data as part of the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, only two states—Mississippi (35 percent) and Louisiana (35 percent)—rank below West Virginia (37 percent) in terms Level 3 or above literacy, which is considered fully literate.

But the state fares quite well when it comes to Level 1 or below literacy, which represents the proportion of the population that is at least partially illiterate. At 21 percent, West Virginia is a percentage point below the national average, faring better than more prosperous states, including California (28 percent) and New York (24 percent).

In terms of the average literacy score, which is estimated by combining all three levels, West Virginia with 260 points is close to the national average of 264 points, level with New York and above California, Texas, Nevada and several other states.

These scores reflect a complex picture of literacy levels across the United States that doesn't place West Virginia among the top by any measure, but quite clearly does not support the description of the state as "illiterate."

Drugs and Addiction

The last part of Midler's comment—"strung out," taken by most to refer to drug addiction—is also tricky to verify because of its vagueness, but there is little doubt that drug addiction is a serious concern in the state.

Looking, for example, at opioid-involved overdose rates per state, based on 2018 data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, West Virginia indeed ranks the highest, with 42.4 deaths on average per 100,000 people, far above Maryland, which at 33.7 deaths comes second. However, 12 other states are not included in that data because they do not meet the criteria.

According to the same agency, West Virginia is seventh highest in terms of opioid prescriptions per 100,000 people. CDC data for 2019 also places West Virginia at the top of the drug overdose deaths table.

The trajectory of the state's drug problems is also troubling: in 1999 West Virginia had a lower rate of overdose deaths than the national average at 4.1 per 100,000 population versus a national rate of 6.0, according to a report by the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. But in 2001 it had surpassed the average national rate and by 2010 became the state with the highest rate of overdose deaths in the nation.

But there are also encouraging dynamics: West Virginia was among the states that saw drug overdose deaths decline between 2017–2018, down 10.9 percent, which was one of the biggest drops among American states. That figure rose 2.5 percent in 2019, but on relative terms the state again ranked better than most.

Furthermore, illicit drug use among individuals aged 12 or older, according to annual averages based on 2016 and 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health data, was between 8.46 and 9.27 percent, the second lowest of the five group sets that states were divided into.

Thus while drug abuse clearly remains a major problem in West Virginia, the state fares badly only by some measures, making the final part of Midler's statement somewhat misleading.

Ultimately, Midler's statement came across as a rash generalization and was understandably upsetting to many, leading her to publish an apology.

But the underlying claims are at least in part accurate. West Virginia's poverty levels are indeed among the highest in the country, and it does have a major drug overdose problem.

Yet, while higher education rates are very low in the state, it has relatively high basic literacy rates and low illegal drug use levels compared to the national averages.