As Democrats woo rural voters, some say why bother

[TexasTowelie]

DES MOINES, Iowa - J.D. Scholten has gotten phone calls from former Rep. Beto O'Rourke. He's campaigned with Sen. Cory Booker. He held a town hall with entrepreneur Andrew Yang and toured an ethanol plant with Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

The presidential candidates are eager to meet with Scholten, hoping he holds the key to a secret that increasingly bedevils Democrats: how to win rural voters, who seem to be firmly in President Trump's camp. Scholten, a former minor-league baseball star, challenged GOP Rep. Steve King in Iowa last year, driving around in a beat-up motor home. He lost, but just barely, in a heavily conservative rural area.

Scholten tells Democrats the party is too focused on upscale urban voters. "We're becoming the Whole Foods party, when we need to figure out how to win in Dollar General districts like mine," Scholten said. "You don't have to win, but you should be able to compete."

That difficult message comes as Democrats face an increasingly clear crossroads: Do they spend time and resources pursuing rural voters, who are often socially and culturally at odds with the party's increasingly liberal direction? Or do they double down on cities and suburbs, hoping to drive up support among the multiethnic, younger, more highly educated voters that many see as the party's future?

Read more: https://www.inforum.com/news/nation/1018746-As-Democrats-woo-rural-voters-some-say-why-bother

[RockRaven]

1. One reason to bother is that the Russians can't hack EVERY voter precinct/county, so

buffing up the rural vote a bit in counties which are less likely to get messed with could mitigate against the ones they DO mess with.

If rural people can't already see for themselves they are getting absolutely screwed by Trump, and used/pwned/manipulated/punked in the most embarrassing/humiliating manner possible, then is there really anything a Dem candidate can say to convince them to vote blue? Seems like a unnecessarily heavy lift for a candidate, but that's the world we're in...

[Blue_true]

3. Yes. We need to send some big names into red areas.

Even if our nominee can't get there, sending in someone democrats know and respect will help mightily, even draw in some Indies and the rare republican that is put out by Trump. Just getting a few more hundred votes out of a lot of those places can make a big difference.

BUT. We should not abandon our values to get votes in those areas.

[JI7]

2. they can just as any other. but don't lie to yourselves

about why many support Republicans.

[betsuni]

4. "what happened to the people who voted for Obama?"

His elections were about the economy and everybody knew it was the Republican's fault, 2016 about race/immigration. Since Obama's election, college educated whites moved toward Democrats and whites without a degree moved toward Republicans. A "racialized economics."

[Indygram]

5. Rural voters mostly care about the same things urban voters care about

the difference is the way in which those issues manifest themselves in each area. If you want to sell a more liberal issue in rural America you need to be able to explain to rural voters the way that proposal applies to them. That's where the disconnect is. I've lived in both very rural and very urban areas as well as suburban areas. People are much more alike than they are different.

[NotHardly]

6. Primary everywhere ... every vote counts because every voter counts

[Indygram]

8. It would also help if those on the left would STOP talking crap about people in rural areas

Most people in rural areas don't even bother voting and are not radical idiots. The ones that do tend to be conservatives that listen to talk radio all day long because they don't have broadband internet and are limited in the information they have access to. Beto almost beat Cruz by going to all of those rural areas and winning people over in those areas. People aren't going to vote for you if you ignore them and don't show up to talk to them.

[ananda]

11. Agree

Please bother.

[BigmanPigman]

7. Again or still?

This is why I want to get rid of the electoral college and do a popular vote. I am not an elitist just because I live on a coast and in a city damn it! I am sick and tired of this crap.

[Demsrule86]

28. I would love to get rid of the EC...but you need an emendment to the Constitution

Which will never happen. Smaller states won't ratify it,

[Midnight Writer]

9. You woo rural voters by taking their healthcare, ruining their farms, killing main streets,

promising to cut Social Security and Medicare, sending their kids to fight dirty wars, and screwing them on their taxes.

[ancianita]

10. Who keeps making up these either-or "difficult messages" for Democrats? WHO. I want to know.

Since when have Democrats ever thought any damn body could dictate their ENERGIES OR LEADERSHIP when the party is a fucking Big Tent Party. INHERENTLY.

Who says Democrats waste their time on some votes and not on others. Who. I want to know.

What the hell is this discussion even here for -- to divide us?
To convince us that we can't do three or four things at once?
That we're no good at "wooing"?
That our party leadership is devoid of enough intelligence, talent and planning to get out the fucking vote everywhere?
That our inherent goals to do the greatest good for the greatest number is not acceptable to rural people?

Whatever happened to the good old 50 State Strategy?

WTF??

[philf99]

12. Can you break the gagg reflex?

I lived and campaigned in rural America.

We always talked about the gagg reflex. Gagg reflex is

G God (they love)
A Abortion (they hate)
G Guns (they love)
G Gays (they hate)

These are the issues that drive many of those voters. How do you over come those?

[brooklynite]

17. Answer: you don't assume every voter fits your stereotype...

Elissa Slotkin (our newly elected Congresswoman from MI-8) told me the story of discussing her plan to campaign in the district's rural Counties, and being cautioned that the previous candidate had lost them by 90%. She said her goal was to lose them by 70%...

[modrepub]

13. Some Points to Ponder

1). Most rural counties, at least in my state, are losing population so do you spend resources on areas that in the future will yield less potential votes? For the more cynical/paranoid here, it should be easy to check if these areas are cheating as said votes should be declining over time.

2) Most rural folks think that their tax money is being funneled to urban areas. I'm guessing it's not the case; some real analytics would help and except for really blighted urban areas I think tax collections in cities and their immediate suburbs out pace what is directed towards these areas. I'm perfectly willing to eliminate the 90% federal funding formula (let's make areas put up 50% for matching federal project dollars).

3) Most rural folks and most conservatives are convinced government doesn't work (and by default seem to want nonfunctioning government). If we've self segregated into (urban) areas that are willing to pay extra for functioning government services and (rural) areas that want low taxes and nonfunctioning government then so be it. Send the majority of taxes where they are collected and to people who are willing to pay them. Maybe those folks will realize having functioning health-care and education systems are important (but I doubt it).

[TheFarseer]

14. Speaking for farmers

Farmers pay a ton of property tax to fund schools. Rural schools get very little money from the state so the funding basically comes from property tax. Being heavily taxed when no one else is paying nearly as much in property tax is really aggravating especially in tough times like now when many are facing bankruptcy.

Government regulations are bothersome and some of them are important like ones dealing with chemicals and water restrictions. Some seem silly like loading trucks to the right ratio, making tractors pollute slightly less and then there is the ever present bogey man that the government will designate your farm a wet land and confiscate it - although i have never seen this done personally it happened to so and so’s brother in law.

[modrepub]

18. Granted

depending upon were you live, the local schools may mainly be financed by property taxes. But they also receive money at the state level that is derived from sales and income taxes. I would argue that developed land is worth more and assessed at higher values than a comparable amount of land being used for farming. Most of the areas where I grew up were developed from farmland in which the farmer received a good deal of money. My home was part of a marginal farmer who sold out and started a plumbing business for his sons. If you're farming wetlands then your yields are much worse than normal arable land. I've rarely seen a wetlands definition prevent a farmer from farming but I have seen developers thrown for a loop if they are not well connected. In the end developing or farming wetlands is a loss either way you cut it. Bet advice is to avoid the areas entirely, get a judge to overrule the definition or heist the property onto some other unsuspecting soul.


Again, some basic analytics will ultimately ID where money is being collected and directed. I still suspect, in my state at least, suburban areas are subsidizing rural areas.

[TheFarseer]

23. The wetlands designation thing

Is almost to the point where it’s just a device to scare farmers into voting GOP but it works. I’ve never seen it actually happen.

The high school I went to seriously only got $200 from the state according to someone on the school board.

[modrepub]

24. WOW

that's crazy. If your state has a teacher pension system then they may not be counting state matching contributions to the pension fund. My district and county receive about a third to half of their budget from the state but it's really hard figuring exact numbers unless you really dig into it.

[TheFarseer]

15. I think now is a good opportunity

The Trump tariffs are hurting farmers badly. We have to articulate how our position is better. Self employed like farmers get murdered on health care. We might be able to find support for Medicare for all.

Of course, coming from a rural area, I know many are just single issue anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ voters, but there’s got to be a limit to how much of the GOP’s crap they will put up with

[brooklynite]

16. Here's a lesson from the Ohio Democratic Party Chair

In 2016, Clinton exceed Obama's vote count in Cleveland. Unfortunately, she massively underperformed his vote count in the Red rural counties.

[Gothmog]

19. Beto visited every county and Texas and was not able to shift rural votes

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

20. Our reach to rural voters did not work in 2018 for Texas Senate

Beto visited every county in Texas and did extensive out reach to rural voters. That out reach made only slight difference https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/politics/texas-election-results-analysis/?utm_term=.40289f03724f

U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) generated far more buzz and cash than Sen. Ted Cruz (R), but he couldn’t muster quite enough votes to topple the incumbent in the reliably Republican state.

That the charismatic O’Rourke even made it a close race was a testament to his campaign strategy and ability to excite grassroots voters. O’Rourke showed up in every one of the state’s 254 districts during his campaign, drew huge crowds at rallies and raised more than $70 million — more than double Cruz’s total — despite accepting no money from PACs or special interests....

O’Rourke needed huge turnout from groups that do not traditionally flock to the polls, such as young voters and people who live in predominantly Hispanic areas. Some of those are near his home turf of El Paso and around the border cities of Laredo and McAllen.
?v=7
According to results from AP VoteCast, a survey of 3,776 Texas voters, both of those groups voted for O’Rourke by a factor of 2 to 1, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Cruz’s dominance among older white voters in rural areas who tend to vote in high numbers.

[Indygram]

30. He actually turned some normally red places blue...

And he increased young voter turnout by 500%. Gerrymandering beat Beto, Cruz didn't.

[Trenzalore]

21. Persuasion costs more than turnout

If you have infinite resources do both, if not turn out people who agree with your world view that are less likely to vote.

[oasis]

22. Give it a whirl, why not?

[McCamy Taylor]

25. Trump is the Bandit King whom rural voters love.

Will be very difficult to tear away his rural support.

[Freethinker65]

26. Keep the conversation open and try to find common ground.

It is very hard to break through to a group of people that have been conditioned to hate you personally for irrational reasons (rural Christians that believe Democrats want to outlaw religion, sportsmen that believe Democrats want to outlaw hunting and force everyone to be vegan, etc.).

If the Democrats have limited resources, I would use them to explain Democratic policies that would improve their lives... Bernie's - let a farmer fix his own "Deere" equipment, the Dems- the importance of maintaining rural healthcare and hospitals that will go under if the ACA gets repealed, how environmental laws and support of keeping public lands public is actually something Democrats and Sportsmen/women have in common, etc.

Still, Hillary is/was a devout Methodist and many "Christians" instead voted for an obvious pandering charlatan and will do so again.

[moose65]

31. I agree, but...

Believe it or not, there ARE Democratic voters in rural areas. There ARE minority voters in rural areas. That's the people we should be reaching out to - to make sure that they get out and vote, and that they not see that their vote is a lost cause. We need to motivate our OWN voters, not try to win over Trump voters. That is a recipe for disaster. Ignoring our own voters makes them feel like "Why should I bother to vote at all?" The result of that is that Trump wins West Virginia by 40 points.

[LonePirate]

27. Chasing rural, white voters is a waste of time and money. Focus on turning out cities and suburbs.

[aikoaiko]

29. Two reasons. We are the party for Americans. Tons of minorities in rural areas.

We can never abandon them. Never.

We have to true to ourselves, but must do what we can to reach out and inspire their votes.

[Politicub]

32. If down ballot races weren't so important, then the "why bother" sentiment would make sense.

But because so much happens at the local and state levels, it's important to elect as many dems in as many districts as possible.