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THREAD: @billhogseth writes a sincere & important piece w/his view tht rural voters went decisively for Trump b/c Dems fail to offer real solutions to the pain & struggle of rural communities.
This is a WIDELY held perspective & I have some thoughts. 1/ https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/01/democrats-rural-vote-wisconsin-441458
This is a WIDELY held perspective & I have some thoughts. 1/ https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/01/democrats-rural-vote-wisconsin-441458
First, Hogseth is 100% correct that the pain is real, and the economic situation of rural communities is indeed in crisis (a crisis that affects Blacks & Latinos in rural regions as well). 2/
But much less discussed is that the pain in urban America is also real.
In Milwaukee, the census estimates 27% of residents live in poverty compared to a nat'l poverty rate of 12% as of 2018. 3/
In Milwaukee, the census estimates 27% of residents live in poverty compared to a nat'l poverty rate of 12% as of 2018. 3/
Yet, we see little media coverage of urban America’s pain in general & Black people in particular (In 2019, the Black poverty rate was 19%, almost 3x the poverty rate for whites).
Is @politico going to run an 1800-word piece on why R’s lose urban areas by such large amounts? 4/
Is @politico going to run an 1800-word piece on why R’s lose urban areas by such large amounts? 4/
The key political point here is that despite similar levels of economic pain among rural and urban Americans, the partisan voting preferences are dramatically different.
And therein lies the rub. 5/
And therein lies the rub. 5/
First of all, it’s not like Republicans offer "rural voters a clear vision that speaks to their lived experiences" either, as Hogseth points out about Dems. 6/
Second, and most fundamental and uncomfortable for people to say out loud, is that racial resentment is actually the best explanation for these voting patterns as @RonBrownstein has repeatedly pointed out. 7/ https://twitter.com/RonBrownstein/status/1331052243215290369
While I really do appreciate Hogseth’s piece, I would challenge those who adhere to that view to reflect on the parts left unsaid. 8/
How much of the mindset that Democrats don’t care about rural voters is tied to the idea — heavily exploited by Trump — that Democrats care more about “those” people, where those people are largely African Americans and Mexican immigrants? 9/
In his book Believer, @davidaxelrod explains that many people opposed the Affordable Care Act because they thought “health reform was just another giveaway to poor Black people at their expense.” 10/
When people say "D’s don’t care about people like me," I’d like to hear the next part.
Who *do* they think D’s care about? Certainly not Wall Street, as Trump oversaw one of the largest corporate giveaways in history. 11/
Who *do* they think D’s care about? Certainly not Wall Street, as Trump oversaw one of the largest corporate giveaways in history. 11/
I absolutely believe more should be done to reach rural voters, and D’s should show up and engage in conversations in rural America. 12/
But those conversations need to be hard ones about the common ground between economically struggling people in rural AND urban America and about how pols fanning the flames of racial resentment stand in the way of finding that common ground. 13/
As much as D’s may lack fluency in issues facing rural America, they are equally if not more deficient in ability to lead an honest, race-conscious conversation that addresses not just the rural/urban divide but also the racial divide that has riven this country since 1619. 14/14
