What exactly are the issues that Rural America hates about Democrats so much?
Remember how a year ago we had poll questions on this forum like, "Are the Republicans dead?" and "are the Republicans doomed to being a regional party?" However, in January they will control both chambers of the congress and the executive branch. Probably the posters who made such threads want us to forget all about them.
Don't read too much into all this. National mood swings come and go. Trump, the firecracker, tapped into a cultural anxiety and played it up. Foreigners are coming to steal your jobs and rape your daughters and terrorize your villages, despite the fact that a number of objective indicators indicate that we are safer than at any time in history, and that the unemployment rate is actually going down. Combine that with the fact that the Democrats nominated an unlikeable, smarmy candidate with a closet full of baggage, and you have a recipe for a Republican victory.
No, the platform is fine. In fact, polling data suggests that people largely agree with it. But people also want "outsiders" for president. Experience used to be important fifty years ago, but the last three presidents-elect, Bush, Obama, and Trump, had very little Washington experience. Contrast them with their rivals, Gore, McCain, and Clinton, who were virtually bolted-in furniture in Washington.
