Why are people in rural areas and small towns so often republican

[dutch508]

Star Member Peacetrain (21,366 posts)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216504141

Why are people in rural areas and small towns so often republican..(not always though)

and I think I finally figured it out.. FEAR.. Fear of their neighbors.. fear of being on the outside of the town or rural area.. fear of even voting other than republican because they now believe that local people who run election areas can actually figure out how they vote and then again , they would be on the outside..


The reason I have come to that conclusion is just talking to people when they come into a larger area like Iowa City from a small town.. In that certain small town Trump is on all the barns.. they even still have a Trump store.. but get them into an area where they feel they can be more themselves, you find they cannot stand what their party is devolving into.


Anything we can do about it?? I honestly don't know.. but I think the very same thing happens in Russia.. in their rural areas..again not everyone can be intimated by fear of being the other .. but many can

 

Star Member vlyons (8,168 posts)

1. yes they all know each other

all go to the same church. all their kids go to the same school and play on the same sports teams. all do farms and ranching stuff at the same time. all shop at the only stores. And they gossip like crazy. It's an echo chamber.

I used to live in a rural town population 4.000. The pharmacy, hardware store, mortuary, and convenience store were all run by the same family. Sheriff was somebody's brother. local judge was somebody's relative. Preacher was head of a big extended family. Used car lot and coffee shop owned by the same family.

Star Member bucolic_frolic (30,238 posts)

2. Rural people don't have to work in the sense of city folk

Families live off the land to some extent, from a home business like trades or farming. Their relatives have lived there forever - generations usually. A local population is 300 years of extended family incest - actual and cultural. They go to the same professionals all their lives, as do all their relatives. They buy the same brand of truck from the same dealer. They don't want any of that to change. Outsiders are a disrupter to their mental and physical lives. Social programs are disruptive to their established ways. So yes they want to lock out the world with layers of insulation.

How Orange Stupid ever penetrated their psyche I have no idea. He just wanted to use them, rather than compete with them. And he brought money for campaigns. So they still felt safe.

 

Star Member CrispyQ (31,504 posts)

3. One idea that I've posted before.

We need a student exchange program, only instead of international exchanges, make it a rural/urban exchange. City kids spend a semester in the country & country kids spend a semester in the city. For younger kids it could even be 2-3 weeks, maybe twice a year. I base this on a couple of stories by two DUer's who said they were conservative until they started to travel & see how other people lived. IDK. It's just an idea. Try to expose kids before they've had years of conditioning.

 

Neema (1,147 posts)

4. I recently read something from a guy who actually figured out

how many Dems were needed in the lowest populated red states to completely flip the state. It wasn't that many. I've never wanted to live in a red state because I don't want to be surrounded by that mindset (and my partner is not white). But man, if Dems could organize a few thousand like-minded people to move to Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas, and live near one another for support, you could flip FOUR states pretty easily. The GOP would never again win back the Senate and the House would be way more secure.

 

Yes,... if you could just infiltrate and flip the states... not because you want to help the people but you want to force others to do what you want. 

Runningdawg (3,691 posts)

5. Speaking from experience - because churches run those small towns.

80% of the people I grew up with in a town of 400 have never left the state of OK. They live in a continual state of fear of the world. Most of them dropped out of school to have a baby or support a baby by age 16. Some even earlier. Growing up, I only knew of ONE person who had been to college. She went for a year before coming back to town to teach Sunday school.

Meadowoak (1,763 posts)

6. In my little corner of rural KY, last election, I noticed more people

We're asking for democratic ballots than republican ballots. I still think there was hinky with the vote count. As far as I can tell, nobody around here voted for Moscow Mitch.

 

Star Member yellowdogintexas (18,957 posts)

14. wouldn't that have been a primary though?

when your voter registration is by party, you can't choose the other party's ballot. In the general, everyone gets the same ballot and there is no choosing.

Just because they are registered as Democrats doesn't mean they will vote that way in the general. They might vote for some downballot Democrats they supported in the primary.

Texans don't register by party so we can cross over if we choose to. Folks think they can help get rid of a particularly odious candidate by doing that. It never works except at the most local level and if the party's voters are highly organized and motivated

Meadowoak (1,763 posts)

19. You are correct, it was the primary, it's been so long, I almost forgot.

I was surprised that so many we're asking for democratic ballots. Pleasantly so.

 

Star Member WhiteTara (27,607 posts)

29. Diebold...ESS machines

were used in KY and Maine

yes... the machines were obviously used to change the votes to {R} but never ever were they used to change votes to {D}...

 

Star Member Shermann (4,442 posts)

7. I grew up in a Small Town far away from a Big City

There was this simmering resentment towards the Big City that I remember. There was this perception that the Big City and their mayor overshadowed the Small Towns and drew all of the state's resources and attention. This created a conflict of interest. And since the Big City and their mayor were Democratic, the Democratic Party couldn't possibly represent the interests of the Small Towns as well. So, the Small Town Republican vote was largely an anti-Big City Democratic vote.

it's the same here. Nobody but the dems in this part of the state like Omaha, Lincoln, and anything east of North Platte...

Stargleamer (1,709 posts)

9. Also the ubiquity of the FNC

the propaganda is everywhere

Star Member Metaphorical (1,285 posts)

10. That's likely

I've lived in small towns before in the Midwest. The culture there is very insular and is usually dominated by those who have a small position of power and who feel threatened whenever a potential destabilizer enters into the equation. The local gossips are usually associates of those in power, a convenient cutout if you will, who have power largely by association and being the maven.

Similar dynamics work in other enclaves. Gated communities have a similar dynamic at work, and not being of the right political party can exclude one from social gatherings, churches, and even school groups for your kids.

Star Member BlueGreenLady (1,951 posts)

11. I do not know how to put this delicately.

Many are low information, gullible people who are easily manipulated by fear of others. They have little opportunity to move up and out of the small town mindset and milieu they grew up in. They are people with few options and low curiosity and no empathy for others outside their close family group.
It is very hard if not impossible to compete with Fox Noise Propaganda for their attention.

 

PlutosHeart (19 posts)

32. I agree and will add to that

Access to education and also more information is pathetically low and gives in to local right wing news access. Sometimes for free in our mailboxes! Also, to see a person of color in this town is always temporary as they move away.A muslim family used to live in our small city of 7000 and some locals banded together to harass them at their home.They moved for their safety.
When I speak to most people local I am stunned at how little they know.

 

Tetrachloride (1,859 posts)

12. The internet is the least expensive way to bridging such places.

Urban areas have more parking lots, arts.

Rural areas might have more nature.

Rural areas have less access to high speed (video quality) internet. Libraries are smaller. Some do not have a normal grocery store anymore, thanks to Walmart.

As for myself, its hard to respect a parking lot.

Star Member OAITW r.2.0 (13,696 posts)

15. I've lived in a small town in a small rural county for over 40 years.

Most folks never experience cultural diversity here. They marinate in the same pot where new ideas are not really discussed. They reflect the same limited world views to each other which helps reinforce the same cultural outlook, generation after generation.

in2herbs (2,067 posts)

18. This issue bothers me, as well. I live in a small red town and know a number of Trumper R's but

I can't understand why they're not Ds. They're among the first to help out a neighbor which is the exact opposite of being an R nowdays. Is it because they became Rs at a young age (likely because their parents were) and now that they're in their 50+ stage of life still fantasize about the "good old days" when they were Rs growing up?

The articles I read on DU helps me with info to challenge their mind-set but it's just not enough.

Maybe past a certain age (youth) critical thinking is impossible?

 

Star Member Chainfire (8,399 posts)

22. First of all, rural America is only about 20% of the population, so we aren't exactly the elephant

in the room. Rural areas tend to be more Christian and also less well educated (the two may or may not be connected), however, both are predictors for conservatism. Poor areas are at the end of the line for all services including quality education. The best teachers avoid rural schools so our education system gets a little "inbred." (the same stupid coach that taught my science class in 1968 was still teaching in the same school 2008) and I doubt that he ever learned the difference in nitrogen and hydrogen. (another story) A lot of rural rural residents have spent their entire lives within their small communities, a lot of them live and die on the same piece of land so they don't get out much or see many things. When things start moving in one direction there are no outside forces operating to change it.

I live in the same rural area that I grew up in, however, I left for a very long time to make a living. Many of my high school class of about 30 people never left at all, they just stayed and replaced their fathers and mothers in what ever business or occupation that they were in. Some went to local colleges, most didn't. They are, for the most case, very conservative and openly racist and church going, Jesus and Trump loving folks.

I have lived in more than one major metropolitan area enough to grow sick of people, so late in life I came back "home." I live in a very rural area, in a poor and minority white County in Florida. We vote for Democrats, but you would not realize it driving through. Those of us learn not to display our politics on our sleeves as a matter of safety and so that we can get along with the people we have to deal with. Don't let the Trump signs and Confederate battle flags give you the impression that all country folk are conservative. We are in the minority, be we are out there.

 

Star Member alphafemale (17,791 posts)

23. R-A-C-I-S-M H-O-M-O-P-H-O-B-I-A M-I-S-O-G-N-Y

More or less to spell it out.

Star Member BlueIdaho (11,214 posts)

24. 24/7 fascist radio propaganda

And the desperation of rural economies. Drive through any small town. Unless they are a tourist trap, they are turning into ghost towns.

YorkRd (214 posts)

25. Fear of the "other" supercharged by Rightwing media and Rightwing religion

It’s harder to hate minorities if you actually are exposed to them living their lives and seeing the similarities humans all have. People in rural communities hardly know any black people, Hispanics or Jews let alone Muslims, Asians, openly LGBT people or even the “urban elites”.
I used to live next to Marjorie Taylor Greens district and one of the most respected long time school teachers would discourage her students from going to Atlanta because nothing good would become of it, bad things happen there. It’s like young white people are indoctrinated with structural racism, they can never know the other, only fear them.

Simeon Salus (860 posts)

31. Inexperience outside of their bubble makes rural folks cautious, less tolerant, and clannish

You go to school in Williamsburg, Iowa (pop. 3,346) and you'll see the same hundred people every day. Except for I-80 restaurant and gas station traffic every transaction at the bank, school, church, store, park is with someone you know or have known, mostly white folks. You drive everywhere. Every business is part of national chain. The mayor is a white man. Your tolerance for strangers and the unusual is low, because you're not used to many changes. Folks stay closeted. Little "c" conservatism is a reasonable POV.

Drive a few miles east on I-80 to Iowa City (pop. 74,828) and there are several main streets. Go to college at Iowa University. Almost half the population are students who come in and out every four years or so, mostly white and mostly from Iowa, but some from neighboring states and few internationals. Walk down campus corner and you'll experience hundreds of people you've never met before--every day. Mayor is a non-white man. Your tolerance of strangers is higher because the town relies on those strangers for church members, school teachers, bank tellers, store clerks, park users. It's still Iowa so still conservative, but way more (little "l" liberal than Williamsburg.

Move a few hundred miles to Chicago (pop. 2,746,388) to get a job in your chosen field. Every one of hundreds of neighborhood has their own main street. Lots of ethnic communities (where familiar folks and like-minded strangers create culture together). Lots of internationals. You take transit, but still drive. Daily tolerance of strangers is high because you see vastly more strangers than familiar faces. See thousands of strangers daily. Non-white openly lesbian mayor. It's normal to see a new store clerk, a new church member, new kids in the park. It's Chicago so conservative thought is deep in some communities but largely something you bring in on TV. Real life is liberal.

Get promoted and move a thousand miles east on I-80 to live in Brooklyn (pop. 2,736,074) and work in Manhattan (pop. 1,694,251). Every street is its own community. Almost everybody is a stranger, ethnic, from other states, or an international. Thousands of minor interactions with strangers daily. You sell your truck. Mayor is a non-white ex-cop man. The city is a world market center (where pragmatism usually beats idealism). Small retail businesses still predominate. Conservatism exists, but mostly radiates out of one building, 1211 Seventh Avenue. Everywhere else real life prohibits daily practice of bigotry, hate and intolerance. It's bad for business. The whole city votes liberal.

Comments?

Star Member Hoyt (52,678 posts)

35. Education levels and experiences. Look at CV19 vaccination rates, for example.

COVID-19 vaccination coverage with the first dose of the primary vaccination series was lower in rural (58.5%) than in urban counties (75.4%); disparities have increased more than twofold since April 2021. Receipt of booster or additional doses was similarly low in both rural and urban counties.

Star Member Wingus Dingus (6,209 posts)

36. They're choosing to live where they live because they believe they are avoiding crime and racial/cultural issues of larger cities. They feel safest and happiest surrounded by people who are just like them. As others noted, it's basically white flight--except these are people who didn't really fly, they just stayed in smaller towns and rural areas. They have sorted themselves over the decades, the ones who wanted to leave for the cities have left--and this is the political result.

Buckeye_Democrat (13,773 posts)

43. It's because they know Democratic policies can't save their rural communities.

Last edited Sun Mar 20, 2022, 04:58 PM - Edit history (1)

 They cover far too broad of an area to try to help all of them. It's hard enough to help people who are concentrated in the small area of a congested city.

So that leaves rural folks with their "values", and Republicans have tailored their messaging around that instead of policies. Any Democrats who promise to turn an old coal mining town or family-farm community into high-tech meccas are lying, and the rural folks know it. They'd be better off praising the rural folks for supposedly working hard, maintaining cohesive families, being God-fearing, etc. That's what Republicans do, and at least that makes the hillbillies feel better about themselves.

The do-nothing Republicans are more like their familiar church leaders. They might uplift their spirits, but they don't really do anything for them. When's the last time that some rural preacher started a business that gave their communities a bunch of jobs? They prefer to hand out collection plates instead, and maybe organize a bake sale to help buy uniforms for the church baseball team or whatever. But at least uplifting their egos is better than empty promises.

 

Star Member JI7 (86,087 posts)

47. Large numbers of White Xtians. Even in Cities White Xtians tend to be Republican

but the difference is the population in cities are much more diverse so overall they tend to lean democratic . Because of high numbers of non whites and large numbers of lgbtq, jews and other minorites .

There are of exceptions in places but the large majority is a as described above.

 

[SVPete]

Star Member Peacetrain (21,366 posts)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216504141

Why are people in rural areas and small towns so often republican..(not always though)

and I think I finally figured it out.. FEAR.. Fear of their neighbors.. fear of being on the outside of the town or rural area.. fear of even voting other than republican because they now believe that local people who run election areas can actually figure out how they vote and then again , they would be on the outside.

  Rural people vote R because they fear other rural people who vote R out of fear will figure out how they voted?

Howzabout many rural people have their own businesses and/or are farmers and/or have family who do/are and/or work for a farmer or business owner? They bleeping work, do not respect entitled whiners, are disgusted by social-program-leeches, and have to battle regs and bureaucrats with some regularity just to do their business and farming. They also are pretty aware of Prog disdain for the people who work to feed them - the farmers and the communities whose businesses in one way or another support farming - and the disdain is mutual, with consequences in how they vote.

IOW, rural people are mostly smarter than the average DUmmie can conceive.  

[BannedFromDU]

     I'm always surprised that none of them ever break in and say, "wow, talk about confirmation bias."

     Anyway, couple things: DUmmies are legion for living in rural areas, often in hovels situated on a plot of land owned by a family member who was productive at some point. This makes some of them part of the communities they abhor. Next, large numbers of them live in suburbs, or even exurbs, and we know this because they are very pointed in their critiques of neighbors' activities, lawn signs, and so forth. I suspect the DUmmies who actually live in the urban areas they supposedly idealize are few in number, and are limited to the most wealthy, eg, the insufferable brooklynite.

     But the tenor of the thread is about the insular, obdurate nature of these alleged "right wingers." Insular? DUmmies (and liberals in general) brook no dissent, period. Even if they did, COVID has turned them into self-righteous, permanent shut-ins, so there's no chance they' ever SEE anyone else, save for the dozens of interactions they seem to have at gas pumps and in grocery lines.

     You'd THINK DUmmies would be walking around the country, double-masked, preaching the gospel of St Joe the Feculent, because every interaction with "right wingers" they note on DU leaves the crowds totally silent and onlookers bursting into applause. Makes me wonder if any of that is actually true.

[USA4ME]

Read that thread last night. As expected and as typical, they completely get it wrong. As for myself, I’m perfectly happy for them to consistently miss the mark, and I feel no obligation to correct them. They’re stupid enough to believe what they want to believe, and I’m smart enough to stay out of their way.

.

[USA4ME]

Chainfire

I have lived in more than one major metropolitan area enough to grow sick of people, so late in life I came back "home." I live in a very rural area, in a poor and minority white County in Florida. We vote for Democrats, but you would not realize it driving through.

Must live in Gadsden County, which is the armpit of the State. And yes, you do realize it’s a Dem area while driving through because of the poverty and general lack of concern they have towards their own homes, much less the community as a whole. Liberty County, which is right next to Gadsden Co., is just as poor, but at least they don’t live like they’re in a pigsty.

.

[67 Rover]

Star Member vlyons (8,168 posts)

1. yes they all know each other

all go to the same church. all their kids go to the same school and play on the same sports teams. all do farms and ranching stuff at the same time. all shop at the only stores. And they gossip like crazy. It's an echo chamber.

I used to live in a rural town population 4.000. The pharmacy, hardware store, mortuary, and convenience store were all run by the same family. Sheriff was somebody's brother. local judge was somebody's relative. Preacher was head of a big extended family. Used car lot and coffee shop owned by the same family.

Pot meet Kettle. 

[Zathras]

Star Member Peacetrain (21,366 posts)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216504141

Why are people in rural areas and small towns so often republican..(not always though)

I don't know. Could it be that, seeing what liberals and Democrats have turned urban areas into with their policies, they want nothing to do with that kind of decay and madness and want to keep it as far from them as possible by voting red?

Naw, that can't be it can it? Voting for their own interests?

[3rd-try]

Its called personal responsibility. (look it up)
In my neighborhood if I call 911 it may be a 20-minute wait. Therefore, I am my own 1st responder in any emergency. I'm responsible for my own safety. 

Look how your "progressive" ideas have been so effective in Baltimore, Seattle, SF, Chicago, Detroit, etc. These places represent long-term unchecked dem policies which displays your mental superiority over repugs? Seriously?

I see plenty of people getting out of the big northeastern cities and moving south. Not so much in reverse. I can't imagine why...

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

These people are desperate to feel better about themselves.

[FlaGator]

When have the libs ever done anything for rural people other than turning their noses up at them and begrudging rural people for having their votes counted?

[CollectivismMustDie]

Projection, your honor.

And lots of it, too.

[DefiantSix]

Projection, your honor.

And lots of it, too.

The Projectionist's Guild is getting pretty upset with the DUmp Monkies who operate the projection equipment without the proper training, certifications, or paying into the Guild pension fund.

I hear they've hired 'Tiny' and 'Knuckles' to take care of the matter for them... 

[SVPete]

Its called personal responsibility. (look it up)
In my neighborhood if I call 911 it may be a 20-minute wait. Therefore, I am my own 1st responder in any emergency. I'm responsible for my own safety. 
...

When I was growing up it might take a sheriff 3 minutes to show up, if (s)he accidentally happen to be nearby, or it could take north of 30 minutes if (s)he happened to be half way across the county. That is ordinary rural life. My Dad had his shotgun and .22 in different places in the house, and if they weren't loaded, some ammo was nearby. Thankfully, they were only used for pesky squirrels.

I've lived in Silicon Valley cities most of my life, and throwing in my years in Phoenix, I've lived in large cities since graduating from high school. But I grew up on a Central Valley farm, some 6 miles from the nearest city limits.

[SVPete]

When have the libs ever done anything for rural people other than turning their noses up at them and begrudging rural people for having their votes counted?

Pretty much every time they ate food while clueless about how that food got to their tables. But that's not your meaning.

[67 Rover]

Fertilizer prices just hit a record high sparking fears of global starvation and the worst food insecurity level since World War II

Today's headline at Yahoo.

This is just another reason why I am thankful to be in rural area.

Oh yea. Thanks Brandon! 

[FlaGator]

Pretty much every time they ate food while clueless about how that food got to their tables. But that's not your meaning.

Indifference to supply chain economics.

[Ptarmigan]

Star Member Peacetrain (21,366 posts)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216504141

Why are people in rural areas and small towns so often republican..(not always though)

and I think I finally figured it out.. FEAR.. Fear of their neighbors.. fear of being on the outside of the town or rural area.. fear of even voting other than republican because they now believe that local people who run election areas can actually figure out how they vote and then again , they would be on the outside..


The reason I have come to that conclusion is just talking to people when they come into a larger area like Iowa City from a small town.. In that certain small town Trump is on all the barns.. they even still have a Trump store.. but get them into an area where they feel they can be more themselves, you find they cannot stand what their party is devolving into.


Anything we can do about it?? I honestly don't know.. but I think the very same thing happens in Russia.. in their rural areas..again not everyone can be intimated by fear of being the other .. but many can

And your point is?