Editing Hopkins County, Kentucky (section)

===Economy and politics: late 20th century to present===
Beginning in 1968, the majority white voters began to favor Republican Party presidential candidates. Since 2000, they have consistently voted for Republican candidates for the presidency (see table below), and increasingly so in local and statewide elections as well.

By 1970, Hopkins County was the second-largest producer of coal in the Western Coal Field, after [[Muhlenberg County]], and the third-largest coal producer in the entire state after Muhlenberg and [[Pike County, Kentucky|Pike County]]. In 1971 the county also ranked fifth in Kentucky in oil production.

Coal and oil-related businesses were major county employers by 1990. Development of resources was aided by the construction of the north–south [[Pennyrile Parkway]] and the east–west [[Western Kentucky Parkway]] through the county by the early 1970s. In 1987 farms occupied 41 percent of the land area, with 72 percent of farmland under cultivation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genealogyinc.com/kentucky/hopkins-county/ |title=Hopkins County, Kentucky Facts, Genealogy, Records & Links :: Genealogy Inc |publisher=Genealogy Inc. |access-date=May 31, 2012}}</ref>