Analysis: How Joe Manchin speaks for a lot of Americans

But as I noted earlier this year, Democrats are lucky they even have a Democratic senator representing West Virginia.

Furthermore, a look at the Senate math and public polling suggests Manchin is not alone in his views of the filibuster.

It can't be said enough how Republican leaning West Virginia is.

If Manchin wasn't a senator from West Virginia, both Senate seats would highly likely be held by Republicans.

This would likely mean replacing someone who voted with Trump 50% of the time (as Manchin did) with someone who voted with Trump more than 90% of the vote (as the average Republican in Congress from West Virginia did).

He goes against the party most frequently when the outcome of a Senate vote isn't in doubt.

When it comes to the filibuster in particular, Manchin's views seem to be very much in the mainstream.

When Americans were asked whether they'd want a filibuster threshold in the Senate to be below, at or above 60 votes, just 32% wanted it lowered below 60 votes.

It's good politics for Manchin in West Virginia to be seen opposing something the Democratic base desperately wants.