We say very clearly that rural America is hurting. But we refuse to justify attitudes that some scholars try to underplay.
Something remarkable happened among rural whites between the 2016 and 2020 elections: According to the Pew Research CenterāsĀ validated voter study, as the rest of the country moved away from Donald Trump, rural whites lurched toward him by nine points, from 62 percent to 71 percent support. And among the 100 counties where Trump performed best in 2016, almost all of them small and rural, he got a higher percentage of the vote in 91 of them in 2020. Yet Trumpās extraordinary rural white supportāthe most important story in rural politics in decadesāis something many scholars and commentators are reluctant to explore in an honest way.
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What isnāt said enough is that rural whites are being told to blame all the wrong people for their very real problems. As we argue in the book, Hollywood liberals didnāt destroy the family farm, college professors didnāt move manufacturing jobs overseas, immigrants didnāt pour opioids into rural communities, and critical race theory didnāt close hundreds of rural hospitals. When Republican politicians and the conservative media tell rural whites to aim their anger at those targets, itās so they wonāt ask why the people they keep electing havenāt done anything to improve life in their communities.
This misses an important point. Cities like Chicago and Miami compete globally, against places like Berlin and Sao Paulo. Smaller regional centers, like Oklahoma city, and Des Moines are ruled by their own elite and are not concerned by international affairs.
The wealthy in smaller regional centers donāt have the ear of the Federal government, but they do employ most people in the local area, so locals are tied to their success. Locals also rely on them for donations to local hospitals, charities, and sporting clubs.
If anything, they actually have an oversized voice in the federal government due to the Senate.
And in many places, also the House and their state legislatures due to gerrymandering.