I recently moved from San Francisco, where I literally don’t know a single Republican voter after living there for 20 years, to the country where probably 4/5ths of the people I know vote Republican. And not a one of those Republicans fits your cliche. I literally can’t think of a single one. Same goes for the “they vote Republican because they’re racist and/or stupid” cliche. They’re Republicans for these reasons:
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gun rights. That’s a biggie when the police are 30 minutes away… Not having the police just a couple minutes away from a 911 call causes an absolutely HUGE difference in perspective.
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regulations. This is just as massive. Just one example among many, but people want to be able to put a shed wherever they want, without a lengthy permitting process that is likely to cost more than the shed itself. And they don’t think regulating business and labor works.
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mistrust of the government. They don’t want to be told what to do by people they perceive as incompetent (thanks Reagan!), and in general they don’t need the government as much as people who live in densely populated areas. Or at least that’s their perception.
Those are the big 3. [I’m sure I’m mangling those though. Would be nice to get their perspective] Given those values it’s hard to argue that they should be voting for Democrats instead of Republicans. Do you agree?
And it’s interesting to note that many of the Republicans I know hate Trump as much as I do, and I grew up in New York! No one hates Trump like New Yorkers. But they vote for him anyway because they sure aren’t going to vote for a Democrat. One or two vote Libertarian.
I really think this is a good time for Biden and the Democrats in general to reach people who live in the country, but first the Democrats are going to have to have to try to understand the needs of people who live in the country, which starts with acknowledging that those needs are different.
