Same 'ol, Same 'ol.....Rural Voters and their disdain for the Democrat Party

Rural voters here in Georgia and across the country are voting their economic interests and have abandoned Democrats because they feel the party overlooks, ignores, and disrespects them. Rural voters don’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 leading Democrats like Stacey Abrams and Jon Ossoff as coming from and supporting urban concerns. Rural folk also believe that Democrats ignore rural needs and that rural areas do not get their fair share of resources. For example, many rural areas like Eastman, Montezuma, Talbot

ton, Statenville, Homerville, Folkston,  have faced recession-like conditions for decades due to a decline in manufacturing and small farms struggling to compete with corporate farms.

Yet, 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 African-Americans. However, rural voters hear Democrats excluding them from help. When working class whites claim that “all lives matter,” they are not opposing helping African-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.