Over the past 30 years, the American political landscape has been characterized by a growing divide between rural and urban voters, almost as if they’re on two opposing teams, according to Suzanne Mettler, the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S).
But the divide is confined largely to white Americans, Mettler and collaborators have found in an examination of the racial and ethnic facets of the trend.
When it comes to politics, Black and Latino residents of rural America differ far less, if at all, from their urban counterparts than do non-Hispanic white residents, the researchers report. With one in four residents of rural America now identifying as nonwhite, the study’s findings raise concerns about political representation of Black and Latino Americans and highlights a need for further research on rural people of color broadly, including racially marginalized groups beyond Black and Latino people.
Rural whites have a cultural identity that is going to be really hard for them to shake. In addition to country music and trucks a major component of that identity is being conservative. People all over imitate this, as you know from probably seeing lifted pickups in your suburbs.
I agree that white people in rural areas have been getting massive benefits like farm and oil subsidies, that wouldn’t have as much effect if there weren’t a cultural component getting people to identify as “country.”