Vickie Rock, a member of the Democratic state central committee in Nevada, describes Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election this way: “The Democratic Party ceded rural America to the Republicans quite some time ago,” reports Roll Call. It says rural Democrats “are now hatching plans to un-do the damage, convinced that a handful of simple steps would go a long way toward winning votes.”
Traditionally conservative, rural Americans voted 2-to-1 for Trump, clearing his way to victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, who trounced Trump in the city and lost narrowly to him in the suburbs.
NPR pointed out that the rural vote isn’t the same as the farm vote, since “farmers make up a small minority in the rural population, with different priorities and agendas than their non-farming neighbors.” The farm lobby has pushed for free-trade deals, like the TPA pact that Trump opposes; immigration reform to secure a stable labor force; less regulation; and continued crop support programs. But many of those issues don’t matter to the majority of rural voters.
The biggest issue facing rural areas, NPR pointed out, is the depopulation of the countryside and small towns. There are jobs, but not enough people to fill them, because younger people tend to leave home for other areas.
Roll Call pointed out that regardless, the Democratic party is now trying to figure out how to regroup in rural areas, where it lost badly. One Massachusetts strategist is trying to set up a conference call with Senate leaders to talk about outreach programs. Some Democrats from rural areas “are plotting runs for leadership in state parties while other gurus say they will take it upon themselves to train a new generation of rural-friendly operatives,” said Roll Call.
Rural Democrats say the national party views their region as the preserve of white farmers, who are a tiny part of the rural population. Party leaders wrote off the need to campaign in rural areas, did not know how to reach voters outside of cities and did not listen to rural issues. “They don’t know how to talk about ordinary people,” Nancy Larson of Minnesota told Roll Call.