How can Dems win rural voters?

[ProgressiveModerate]

I think it has to do with explaining their policies. This election, their message was for the most part, anti-Trump, and I think in hindsight they could've done a better job of explaining to voters, particularly those in these rural communities, why the Democratic platform would benefit them.

[ProgressiveModerate]

A lot of talk on if the GOP can improve with suburbanites but not a lot talk about Dems improving in rural areas. The fact is they’ve blown a golden chance with their suburban take over: They’re losing so many rural areas by a 80-20 clip at best. If they could even make that 65-35 you’d see landslides, trend bucking midterm wins and a Dem owning of the White House.

How do Dems become competitive in rural areas and what canidate is best able to do that

The best way for Democrats to compete in rural areas is to run as DINOs, people like Connor Lamb or Joe Manchin can still win over some rural voters but most national Democrats cannot. It's hard because most Democrats who run as DINOs tend to lose to incumbent Republicans in rural areas and therefore don't get anywhere.

Unfortunately, running DINOs doesn't seem to work in rural areas. Just look at Collin Peterson vs Michelle Fischbach.

Peterson's luck ran out.....

That's true, but his overperformance was still pretty sizeable. MN-7 may no longer be winnable, but doing well in places like ME-2, MN-1, or NC-11 could go a long ways. I also think the polarization we saw this election was very unique because of how strong people's feelings were towards Trump; you either thought he was some god-like hero that would save America or someone who would completely tear apart the fabric of our democracy. In don't know if in 2024, for instance, feelings towards Biden, both positive and negative, will be as strong, leaving a bit more room for split ticket voting.

[ProgressiveModerate]

They can't. You can't fight realignment.

This isn't true. Democrats aren't going to be winning the rural vote anytime soon, but like I said, there's a big difference between getting less than 30% of the rural vote and getting 35% of the rural vote, and making a concerted effort to appeal to these voters' concerns will win over some of them.

Well, you can fight realignment, but it's a bad idea. You'll just be disappointed again and again.

Rural performance for Dems seems to be more a #candidatequality thing than anything else right now. I'm not sure what more the party could do to make itself more appealing in rural areas. These rural voters don't hate the policy, they hate the D next to the person's name. We need more of those magical candidates like Joe Manchin who make people say "he's a Democrat, but he's our Democrat." They hate the D. You can be as liberal as you want as long as you can get people to look past the D.

I would be curious if there would be a performance difference if someone ran as an independent in a place like WV or MT, but was basically a Democrat policy wise.