The REAL Reason Rural Voters Continue to Vote Republican

Why do rural, working class whites vote Republican? Well based on conversations I've had throughout the last few years, many have told me that they are voting their economic interests and decided to leave the Democrats because they feel the party overlooks, ignores, and disrespects them.

Look, rural voters doesn't think that Democrats understand the economic realities of rural and small town life and have not focused attention on them. Instead, rural voters see Democrats as coming from and supporting urban concerns like Stacey Abrams for example who's probably going to run for Governor in 2022. Rural folks also believe that Democrats ignore rural needs and that rural areas do not get their fair share of resources. For example, many rural areas have faced recession-like conditions for decades due to a decline in manufacturing and small farms struggling to compete with corporate farms.

Here's a fact: National Democrats focus on the problems of minorities and rarely talk about the problems of rural voters.  This fact is why identity politics backfires on Democrats. Understandably, Democrats support Black Lives Matter to rectify the historic injustices done to Black folks. However, rural voters hear Democrats excluding them from help. When working class whites claim that “all lives matter,” they are not opposing helping Black Americans per se. Instead, they are claiming that working class whites need and want the help also. If Democrats could broaden their appeal beyond race, spend time in rural areas, and create policies to deliver benefits to these rural areas, Democrats could win more elections. Take a look at Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, Georgia's two newest Senators. They know this and have been spending alot of time in rural parts of Georgia pushing policies that will help address some of Rural America's needs.

Also you have to look at the continued support of Donald Trump by rural working class voters can also be explained through this prism. Trump’s trade policies were popular because even though it may hurt some rural workers, they see Trump working to restore manufacturing plants lost decades ago. Moreover, many rural voters see illegal immigrants as competitors for their jobs who work for less and depress their wages which makes “the wall” popular.

Finally, Republicans have misread rural support for Republicans as support for limited government. That is wrong. Rural voters are fine with higher taxes (some of you may disagree with this) and more spending if they think it helps them. Their (republicans) current anti-government views reflect a belief that most government aid goes to urban areas. The challenge is that more government aid to rural areas and the poor conflicts with conservative orthodoxy. However, a more proactive approach to help the poor could help an older, white GOP expand its support among minority voters. But they can't see that and Democrats have failed so far to capitalize on this opportunity by refusing to go in unfriendly territory