Courting rural voters

[question everything]

In 2016, Donald Trump tallied huge winning margins in rural counties nationwide, gearing his message to “forgotten Americans.” He won 62 percent of the vote in America’s small towns and rural areas.

An analysis by the Kentucky-based nonprofit Center for Rural Strategies following the election found an 8 percent jump in rural support for Republicans from the 2004 to the 2016 presidential elections.

“There’s a growing chorus of Democrats who just want to write off rural America, and I don’t think that’s realistic to be a viable national party,” said Matt Barron, a Massachusetts-based Democratic strategist highly critical of the party’s efforts in rural America. He said he’s long found it difficult to persuade Democratic donors to invest in things like ads on rural radio networks and weekly newspapers, despite the often low cost.

Barron said Republicans have benefited from the social conservatism of rural voters, who can be put off by Democratic positions on gun rights, abortion and same-sex marriage. That’s despite the fact that, in Barron’s opinion, Democratic economic policies would tend to favor the higher concentrations of low-income and elderly residents in rural areas.

From http://www.startribune.com/sen-amy-klobuchar-courts-iowans-with-rural-emphasis/507892321/

(Taken from a story about Klobuchar but I think that the topic is general).

[jcgoldie]

1. meh

As a rural voter in a red area of a blue state I say courting rural voters is mostly a waste of time. Trump has tapped into their xenophobia. They think Obama signaled the end of white privilege and they are willing to eat any sort of shit sandwich to preserve it.

[democrank]

2. It's a big mistake to not spend time with and not listen to rural voters.

Although certain issues are specific to rural voters, folks in those areas share many....maybe most....of the concerns of city dwellers. Cost of health care, student loan debt, infrastructure, housing costs, unemployment, education, global warming, etc., etc., etc.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

3. Here's My Take On The "Rural Voters" Dilemma

I think it's a mistake to ignore them, but I think it's also a mistake to waste too much time courting them. My uneducated opinion on the subject is that you can try to make inroads among "rural voters" as much as you want, you can try to educate them as to your positions and why those positions are actually beneficial to them, you can demonstrate to them why you're the much better choice for what they want, and when Election Day rolls around, most of them will walk into the voting booth and go, "They're gonna take my guns away," and vote for the person with the R next to their name.

The hatred and prejudice is too ingrained. You have to focus on getting through to the youth before the brainwashing has a chance to shut down their critical thinking skills. I believe in the old Howard Dean "50 State Strategy." I believe you need to try to reach EVERYONE. But I also have a very cynical view of how successful those inroads are going to be among "rural voters." Maybe because I live amongst them and know just how closed their minds really are (the older generation, anyway). Despite all the progress we've made over the years, I still know people TODAY (some of which are in my own family) who actually believe that all gays are child molesters (an idea I thought died out 50 years ago). I still remember several years ago hearing some old woman being interviewed about stem cell research, and her response was, "Oh yeah, that's where they kill the babies to get the stem cells." They have a 24-hour-a-day propaganda network blaring in their ears every time they turn on a TV or get in their car and turn on a radio, reinforcing their prejudices and telling them that anyone who disagrees is lying to them. I mean, how do you even reach someone like that? And is it worth your time to even try?

[2naSalit]

4. Jon Tester has a good strategy for that...

Go and show up, listen to what they need and discuss how you plan to make that work for them, they don't care so much that he's a Dem in a red state if he listens to them and works on their concerns. All that hate just falls away, even when you have the clown car careening all over the state with brown shirt rallies against him, he still won. That's how it works in rural states. One of the reasons we live in rural places is to not be around everyone else, but we still have many of the same needs and concerns as most other citizens.

[moondust]

5. +1

Homophobic and anti-science beliefs like that are probably rooted in religion. I don't know about now but years ago going to church every Sunday made a person respectable and was more or less expected in rural communities. The theocratic (R) party's agenda of God/guns/gays has probably taken over in many of those places thanks to all that propaganda.

[Joe941]

6. Don't waste too many resources in rural America...

It is not fertile ground.

[llmart]

7. +1

Think of all the energy and money and time Democrats put into getting the ACA passed. This law benefited many, many of these rural people and yet they turned around in the next election and voted for a Republican, who now is trying to get rid of the ACA. It reminds me of the ne-er do well cousin who doesn't want to do what needs to be done to support his family and yet he has no trouble asking you for money when he can't pay his rent and then bad mouths you later on for being one of those "librul elites who thinks because they went to college they're smarter than you." Or the anti-union people who enjoy the benefits of the union but don't like paying their union dues. The old adage of "don't bite the hand that feeds you" comes to mind.