Why Winning Over Rural Voters Is So Hard for Democrats
Barack Obama on the Ezra Klein Show:
“I could go to the fish fry, or the V.F.W. hall, or all these other venues, and just talk to people. And they didn’t have any preconceptions about what I believed. They could just take me at face value. If I went into those same places now — or if any Democratic who’s campaigning goes in those places now — almost all news is from either Fox News, Sinclair news stations, talk radio, or some Facebook page. And trying to penetrate that is really difficult.”
“It’s not that the people in these communities have changed. It’s that if that’s what you are being fed, day in and day out, then you’re going to come to every conversation with a certain set of predispositions that are really hard to break through. And that is one of the biggest challenges I think we face.”
Obama hit the nail on the head.
However,it’s not so much that they believe all those lies,
It’s that they WANT to believe them.
Whatever the reason ,Democrats would be well advised to concentrate their efforts elsewhere.
Trump HAS made it so they can embrace their anti-Democratic gene’s…
The pandemic really showed us the disconnect between rural Republicans and facts.
From the hostility to masks to conspiracy theories surrounding the vaccine and reluctance to get it particularly among rural residents who support Trump Republicans.
I agree with Jack. Focus on suburban and urban voters. This claptrap about Fauci being evil turns off many of the remaining suburban Republicans at a faster clip than it attracts new rural voters.
Just look at the results from the New Mexico special election. That was a district won by a conservative Republican–Heather Wilson–in the 1990s and 2000s. Now solidly blue.
A 25 point win, up 10 from last year’s results. And the Republicans used the “they hate cops” playbook.
No wonder the Republicans are trying to stop people from voting.
Democrats ain’t done……