I have been saying this for years! I hear people I know in rural America say "The liberal elites don't care about us" (or some version of that) all the freaking time but it is just demonstrably false. I'm not sure if Democrats don't do enough to get the word out, or if people just reflexively don't believe it, or a combination, but the idea that Democrats don't do anything substantive for rural Americans does not hold up to good-faith scrutiny.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/28/lie-rural-americans-broadband-democrats
@misslovelymess I definitely agree that Democrats do a terrible job of messaging in rural America. But honestly given my conversations with my family members I am not sure what they could say. I can't even convince my own father that Hillary Clinton hasn't had dozens of people murdered.
@Sophronisba It’s insanely hard to penetrate cult like, conspiratorial thinking. Luckily, while I am surrounded by Magas, Q and big conspiracy stuff never got much traction here.
@Sophronisba Should note that this is a very, very poor area. I find middle class magas to be the absolute worst with the conspiracy stuff. Educated people. It’s a striking difference to me.
@Sophronisba When it comes to policy, Democrats are absolutely better for rural voters.
Unfortunately, they’re right that there is an elitist cultural attitude toward rural America on the part of us coastal so-called “elites”. (A southern accent or rural way of speaking is often perceived as a sign of lower intelligence, education, etc. This isn’t just an American or even modern phenomenon, and it’s very real.) That leads to bitterness than can easily be exploited by the GQP.
@Sophronisba I think Jonathan Metzl's dying of whiteness does a good job showing the rhetoric that has people voting against the facts, their own health and interests
@Sophronisba As someone who lives in rural America, I can tell you what they are referring to is economics. When production was transferred overseas rural areas were gutted and have not recovered. GOP is just as guilty, but they do a much better job at messaging and they are physically in these areas delivering the messages. You have to concede that during 2016 cycle, rural Americans were viewed as a lost cause by the Democrats. They didn’t even try.