Revenge of the rural voter

JD Sun, 11/13/2016 - 16:36

It was supposed to be the year of the Latino voter. Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton, white rural voters had an even bigger moment.

Now Democrats are second-guessing the campaign’s decision to largely surrender the rural vote to the GOP. With their eyes turned anxiously toward 2018, they’re urging a new strategy to reach out to rural voters to stave off another bloodbath when a slew of farm-state Democrats face tough reelection battles.

"Hillary lost rural America 3 to 1," said one Democratic insider, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the campaign. "If she had lost rural America 2 to 1, it would have broken differently."

After years of declining electoral power, driven by hollowed-out towns, economic hardship and a sustained exodus, rural voters turned out in a big way this presidential cycle — and they voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump, fueling the real estate mogul’s upset victory. The billionaire New Yorker never issued any rural policy plans, but he galvanized long-simmering anger by railing against trade deals, the Environmental Protection Agency and the "war on American farmers.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/hillary-clinton-rural-voters-trump...

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