Is there any way for Democrats to win over rural white voters?

[Deleted member 31923]

In seeing the results of the Oklahoma election in the other thread, there was good and bad news. The good was that they voted to expand Medicaid, very narrowly, but the bad news is that rural Oklahomans voted against the explanation, even though they could use it the most of anyone. They tried to sign their own death warrant, but failed thanks to urban and suburban voters. That's horrible!

That got me thinking, is there ANY way for Democrats to win over rural white voters? I expect people to say, "sure, nominate racists," but I'm looking for serious answers or policies. What's sad is that rural white voters used to be the bedrock of the Democratic party, and their abandonment of the party for Republicans has made winning the Senate and electoral college/Presidency much harder. Even when we nominate moderates, rural white voters still choose the Republican over them. I'm also looking for perspectives from people who live or grew up in these rural areas. Is this just a case where the stereotype is right, that all these people care about is having racist politicians to support their own hateful and racist views and we can never win them over?

 

[Ashrak]

No.

 

[Mathieran]

Probably not short of adopting the Republican platform. They don't want to be won over. I grew up with these people, they are shitty people.

they live in a small world and think they know better than everyone who lives in a city. They don't wish to grow as human beings and they don't care about diversifying their lives.

 

[TyrantII]

No.

52% of eligible voters stay home. Time/Money is better spent reaching out to them and forming new coalitions.

 

[Deleted member 3017]

Progressive policies will have to be passed without their support, which will drag many of them to the left once they realize they can't live without the new programs. Basically, the country as a whole will have to move left first. Probably a long way off.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Far too disparate in world views. Abolish the electoral college and drag them kicking and screaming into the future.

 

[Sign My Guestbook!]

No.

52% of eligible voters stay home. Time/Money is better spent reaching out to them and forming new coalitions.

Click to shrink...

Yup! This seems like a much better strategy.

 

[Brinbe]

racists gonna racist, so no.

 

[Video Kojima]

Promise to lock black people up.
Promise tax breaks for white people.

100% vote guaranteed.

 

[Charcoal]

I grew up in rural Illinois in a town of ~6,000 people. People there literally paint Trump or MAGA 2020 on their barns/corn silos.

 

[Lyrick]

Nope.

In my State (SoDak) even if Jesus Christ were to run, he would lose if he had a (D) next to his name on the Ballot.

The only path forward for a Dem to win in this area is to remove the political party Identifier from the ballot. The last D nominee for Gov basically would have been an R in many other states and held the platforms that many of the voters wanted, and our current Gov is generally hated. Unfortunately he had a D next to his name so he was guaranteed to lose.

 

[jerf]

Education. But it will take a lot of time since the system was built to keep them ignorant and most flat out refuse to do any sort of critical thinking.

 

[ned_ballad]

There's no way to reach them because they don't want to be reached. They're hopeless

 

[alr1ght]

Educate them. That's the only way. There's a reason why Republicans don't like funding public schooling.

 

[ArrogantBastard]

Nope, they are lost.

Education. But it will take a lot of time since the system was built to keep them ignorant and most flat out refuse to do any sort of critical thinking.

Click to shrink...

What system was built to keep them ignorant? They are willfully ignorant, they pride themselves in downplaying so called 'experts'.

 

[Piston]

It will take a long time for any progress to be made. I see two slight signs of hope:

1. I think what may ultimately help is the decentralization of work may send some urban and suburban folk out into rural areas but that will be a very small percentage of people.

2. The other hope would be for policies to tangibly start benefitting rural areas such as access to high-speed internet, access to better healthcare, modernizing infrastructure to allow easier access to certain geographic areas, and green energy initiatives that can bring jobs and industry to isolated areas.

These would only help on the margins, I don't see it completely converting rural America into Dems, but it may stem the bleeding and reverse the tides slightly.

 

[Video Kojima]

Nope.

In my State (SoDak) even is Jesus Christ were to run, he would lose if he had a (D) next to his name on the Ballot.

The only path forward for a Dem to win in this area is to remove the political party Identifier from the ballot.

Click to shrink...

They would see the real Jesus as an Arab/Muslim and hurl racist insults (and other things) at him.

 

[ArrogantBastard]

Educate them. That's the only way. There's a reason why Republicans don't like funding public schooling.

Click to shrink...

You cannot educate them out of this, they deny it. You are teaching a false narrative, personal opinion, yadda yadda.

 

[JEH]

Most of those rural voters only care about abortion, gay marriage, and guns so no.

 

[krazen]

The GOP needs to clean it's act.

They've amplified whatever racist bias they had for the last 40 years to the point its a self perpetrating conveyor belt of bigotry. Look at a place like West Virginia where there's almost no black people in the actual state to hate on, but large groups still manage to have a fucked up view on race there.

Ultimately as the GOP tries to survive into the next decade, HOPEFULLY they would change their tune as far as dogwhistles are concerned...but it's a pipe dream.

 

[Lost Knight]

You need to somehow convince them that Trump isn't gonna bring their old jobs back, that immigrants are good for the country, and that we don't need Christianity as an identity.

 

[tangeu]

Appeals to emotions instead of logic, harness their outrage, along term education funding and critical thinking building, focus on policy that directly benefits them instead of a perceived funneling their taxes to the big cites...

 

[Kill3r7]

Democrats have been losing white support since Johnson. So to answer your question the messaging would need to be about class warfare rather than race which is pretty fucken hard to do given the ingrained beliefs but there is hope with the ever changing economic landscape.

 

[the_wart]

It's good to keep in mind that electorally, demographics don't need to be "won" for gains to be valuable. Going from 95% to 85% among rural whites can absolutely flip a state.

So while there's no chance of winning the demographic, that doesn't necessarily mean there's no progress to be made.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Appeals to emotions instead of logic, harness their outrage, along term education funding and critical thinking building, focus on policy that directly benefits them instead of a perceived funneling their taxes to the big cites...

Click to shrink...

It's so frustrating that it has to be this way, but after 4 years of trying to use evidence, I don't see an alternative.

 

[Kthulhu]

Actually showing up? Nobody is going to listen to you if all they hear about you is on TV.

 

[mutantmagnet]

The democratic party as is will never win the majority of rural voters and I only use the word never when it is warranted.

At a fundamental level the democratic party is dominated by urbanites. Urban politics are fundamentally different from rural politics.


For any chance of even getting a significant minority of rural voters to flip the democratic leadership will need to have more rural folk represented in their leadership ranks so they have a better idea how to approach these people.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

Turn their backs on minorities, and women's rights.

 

[Parthenios]

At least based on my hometown in rural ass white ass Kentucky, a Democrat could do it if they had the evangelical social policy positions. Anti-LGBT, prayer in schools, anti-abortion sort of stuff. The other platform policies is largely irrelevant in these areas.

The question then is--would Democrats welcome such a candidate in their party? If you assume that a candidate with such positions is going to win regardless, is taking one with more progressive views on other issues worth the money to support such a candidate?

 

[Aurongel]

In absolute terms, Democrats are the working man's party in terms of their platform. The issue is that the GOP makes stronger and more frequent social appeals to their dwindling sense of racial superiority and falling demographic numbers. They also appeal more to religious Americans and the elderly - both of which naturally hold more conservative views socially overall. The 2020 Democratic Party is the coalition party of our bipartisan system, on a fundamental level they need to form cross-racial alliances more than the GOP does to secure electorate power.

When you look at someone like Biden and his curiously broad appeal to white voters, you'll quickly see these white voters are willing to look past his liberal platform (compared to past dems on the ticket) and give them his vote because they find him a more identifiable candidate than either a PoC or (record scratch*) a woman. I think that tells you what the priorities of white working class voters are and it's the reason why I think that Democrats will have to rely on them less and less once this election is over.

 

[UberTag]

Winning them over once they're set in their ways? Not a chance.

BUT... if you invest in better education earlier in life, you can make inroads in reaching their kids... although those kids will likely just move away from their rural redneck parents once you do. It's quite the quandary.

 

[Deleted member 70788]

I actually think there is, but it's going to come with losing ground on some of the policies many people here hold (though I think you might get more results of what we actually want long term).

A shift in the 2A alone and how we talk/approach gun control could win a lot of other people over. I know that's a controversial statement, but ...

 

[captmcblack]

Impossible. In places like this, "liberal"/"left"/"Democrat" is like a slur.

The Democrats wouldn't be able to credibly allow anyone even vaguely in support of the social positions of Rs/"conservatives" anyway.

 

[Violence Jack]

Having grown up as a black child in a rural area in a southern state, no. They would all vote to jump off a cliff if it means keeping minorities down. Hell, my hometown pretty much voted to keep all the black people behind a set of railroad tracks, and used the KKK and local police to scare us into staying put.

 

[Orb]

No. You can't reason someone out of a mindset they didn't reason themself into.

 

[Brinbe]

it's not really about guns/abortions/etc. they don't want to be educated. these people are literally white supremacists who yearn for the days before LBJ signed the immigration and nationality act of 1965. they literally think america is a white-first nation and that's their birthright. that's what trump and stephen miller have been running on this entire time. they feel threatened by anyone that's not white and know how shitty minorities have been treated, which is why they're doing whatever they can to prevent themselves from becoming the minority themselves.







you wanna know the true face of the republican party, just read the comments to these videos. not to say this attitude is exclusive to rural white americans, but let's just say there's probably a lot them out there and they're voting MAGA regardless of whatever other treasonous bullshit he pulls. Listen to all the dogwhistles he amplifies with every tweet and rally. His is talking directly TO these people.

 

[Deleted member 25606]

I just want to point out, though it makes this all depressing is the only reason rural voters used to be the backbone of the Democratic Party is because they were the racist party until the civil rights switch, and Nixon adopting the southern strategy.

So in other words until you can eliminate racism (along with voting against the rights of others based on religion, such as abortion and gay rights) no, those people are a lost cause.

And education at least if pushed that way is not the answer since they see it as indoctrination and dig heels deeper against it.

I have a family member who is a rural republican in Maine (so when I use south I am not actually saying it's only there) who's son is smart and multiple really good colleges started recruiting him as a sophomore, would have had scholarships and a full ride, but my relative drummed into his head that it's just liberal indoctrination, wouldn't let him go see the schools, etc, and now he pushes carts for wal-mart and voted trump, so there's more going on there than just improving curriculum.

 

[Bigwombat]

Far too disparate in world views. Abolish the electoral college and drag them kicking and screaming into the future.

Click to shrink...

I forget what you would need exactly but I think it's at least 2/3 majority in the house to get the abolishment of electoral college started. So many small states would be against it. Not saying it shouldn't be done, it's just gonna be really hard.

 

[Seneset]

Winning them over once they're set in their ways? Not a chance.

BUT... if you invest in better education earlier in life, you can make inroads in reaching their kids... although those kids will likely just move away from their rural redneck parents once you do. It's quite the quandary.

Click to shrink...

This right here. However, changing a culture of willful ignorance and hatred of STEM will take a while.

 

[Deleted member 31923]

At least based on my hometown in rural ass white ass Kentucky, a Democrat could do it if they had the evangelical social policy positions. Anti-LGBT, prayer in schools, anti-abortion sort of stuff. The other platform policies is largely irrelevant in these areas.

The question then is--would Democrats welcome such a candidate in their party? If you assume that a candidate with such positions is going to win regardless, is taking one with more progressive views on other issues worth the money to support such a candidate?

Click to shrink...

The governor of Louisiana is a Democrat and signed the six week abortion ban. So there are some out there, although they won't agree with Republicans on all social issues. And then you have people like Manchin, who is pretty conservative and is still welcomed in the party. Granted, these are people in deep red states where the choice is a Republican or a moderate Democrat, a progressive isn't going to win. A Democrat who is anti-abortion couldn't win the presidential nomination, for example.

 

[Crayolan]

Part of it is rural residents basically growing up only knowing republican people and ideals. If you've lived in republican bubble all your life, why would you ever question it?

But urban/rural divides aren't a uniquely American thing. Rural resentment of urban residents imposing laws on them which they might not understand (even if they ultimately benefit them) isn't something democrats can easily solve. This makes it easy for Republicans to paint themselves as being on their "side" and convince them of whatever they're peddling more easily.

 

[Malverde]

Have more Democrats move out of populated cities and into rural areas. Any volunteers?

 

[Zache]

I forget what you would need exactly but I think it's at least 2/3 majority in the house to get the abolishment of electoral college started. So many small states would be against it. Not saying it shouldn't be done, it's just gonna be really hard.

Click to shrink...

The moment the GOP loses the electoral vote/wins the popular vote, the electoral college is gone. Could happen if Dems start regularly winning Texas.

 

[Thrill_house]

Probably not short of adopting the Republican platform. They don't want to be won over. I grew up with these people, they are shitty people.

they live in a small world and think they know better than everyone who lives in a city. They don't wish to grow as human beings and they don't care about diversifying their lives.

Click to shrink...

This pretty much.

 

[chaostrophy]

Maybe supporting right to repair of farm equipment. Though I don't have a lot of specific policies in mind because I'm not rural.

In general listen to their grievances, and from those figure out how they're being fucked over by big business and address that. A lot of their grievances will probably be racist, misogynist, homophobic, etc.- obviously don't act on those. Filter out the bigotry and find out what legit reasons they have to be pissed off at the elite. Democrats probably won't get a majority of them, but it would be worth the effort if they went from, say 10% D to 30%- that's a lot of voters joining the urban ones in any state.

 

[BWoog]

 

[Kunka Kid]

No. It's not about politics. It's not about the issues.

It's about their side beating the other side. And that's it.

 

[SimonSimon]

Political polarization is going to become more extreme before (if ever) we reverse course.

Also, people in this thread are flipping the causation. Political identity often dictates what beliefs you hold, not the other way around. For example, if climate change wasn't a partisan issue, the number of denialists would be much smaller. If you don't believe me, look at the face mask conversation. Nobody would have thought that pandemic response would be a political issue until it got politicized.

 

[The Albatross]

Nationally or state-wide, not without losing urban progressives.

Democratic candidates for the House can win in rural white areas by focusing on jobs, pay, labor, reinforcing fossil-fuel, agricultural subsidies, not being pedantic on Abortion, being Christian, and not being outspoken on race issues. But, there aren't many national Democrats who want those types of Democrats in the party anymore. The nationalization of politics makes Democrats weak in rural white areas, but likewise, makes them strong in urban multi-ethnic areas. The suburbs are where the battle lines are drawn, and winning suburban voters -- which Democrats failed to do in 2016 but succeeded in doing in 2018 -- is how Democrats will control national policy. Pelosi orchestrated a very effect 2018 campaign by preferring and backing candidates who could win in those suburban areas, but who would lose a primary urban progressive areas. She was careful about winning seats without abandoning core messaging, but these are the candidates who progressives have no tolerance for in the party.

 

[samoyed]

BUT... if you invest in better education earlier in life, you can make inroads in reaching their kids... although those kids will likely just move away from their rural redneck parents once you do. It's quite the quandary.

Click to shrink...

Part of it is rural residents basically growing up only knowing republican people and ideals. If you've lived in republican bubble all your life, why would you ever question it?

Click to shrink...

Mhm. Attack the bubble. Draw their kids out of the bubble using the lure of education.