… In my earlier post I suggested that voters in rural areas and small industrial towns are often two rather distinct demographic groups that should not be conflated. Yes, Democratic candidates lost votes in both postindustrial towns and their surrounding rural environs. But their losses were especially dramatic in the latter, while they still have pockets of support in the former. In larger towns with an industrial history or a university (or both), Democrats still win majorities.
If Democrats try to reacquaint themselves with rural America as part of a strategy for winning back the pivotal postindustrial states, they must also come to grips with another important difference between town and countryside: turnout. CONT.
Jonathan Rodden (Stanford), Monkey Cage