To those who keep claiming that it's pointless looking for votes in rural America...

[brooklynite]

...and that the voters there are all racist, pro-Trump, bible-thumpers....

Read the following from the Rural Democracy Initiative.

https://ruraldemocracyinitiative.org/sites/default/files/articles/Investing%20in%20Rural%20and%20Small-Town%20Voters%20-%20RDI%20Report.pdf

RST voters are, contrary to conventional wisdom, among the swingiest voters there are among different demographic groups. They voted for Obama in the 40s, then plummeted to 32% for Hillary. They then went up 6% in 2018 before settling midway between that number and the 2016 percentage in 2020.

The raw Senate representation numbers make an even stronger case for investing in rural and small-town voters. More and more of our nation's population are moving into big metro areas and the biggest states. Already, more than half of the population lives in just nine states. That means less than half of our population is represented in the Senate by 82 senators.

Because of rising Latino population numbers and other recently naturalized immigrants, many states with large rural/small town populations are becoming more ethnically diverse, with urban areas in those states also growing, and that is going to change their politics over the next decade if we make the needed investments. Texas is now over 50% people of color, and elections there will continue to get closer if we invest in outreach strategies to the heavily Latino counties in rural South Texas and largely un-organized Black communities in East Texas. Georgia and Mississippi are now more than 40% people of color, with North Carolina only a little behind at 37% and South Carolina at 35%. Even historically heavily White and Republican Midwestern states like Kansas and Nebraska are now over 21% people of color, with that percentage growing steadily year after year.

[LakeArenal]

1. I lived in rural WI 35 years.

Gerrymandering has turned blue counties red. But we still win State wide elections because Democrats do live in rural America

[brooklynite]

3. So you're saying what RDP is doing is hopeless?

There are NO approachable voters in the rural areas?

[xmas74]

4. I live in rural America.

I'm in Missouri.

There are definitely liberals all around me. There are also plenty of people if spoken to one-on-one who actually like the ideas promoted by the Democratic party. The problem has always been messaging.

Will we turn them all into solidly blue Dems? No, but we might be able to appeal to issue voting. Even here in Missouri it happens. They vote for the (R) but in ballot issues they vote much more progressive. They voted for minimum wage increases, they voted Medicaid Expansion, they voted CLEAN (but the GOP remessaged and twisted the wording and then voted it out. That's an entirely different issue about the power of a SoS in reworking ballot language to purposely confuse.). They voted medical marijuana and there's a fight to get recreational on the ballot. Polling shows it will pass by a large majority if it appears.

[Baked Potato]

5. Texas and Florida are absolutely in play for Democrats.

Republicans are keenly aware of this. That’s why they are pushing the “machismo” themes. That’s why Republicans are saying US troops are “emasculated.”

[crickets]

6. K&R for visibility.