How can Dems improve with rural whites?

[Vice President Christian Man]

Stop running coastal elitists who look down on them as racist/backwards and instead have them communicate with their wants and needs. The New Deal and Great Society specifically helped the Upper South, and I think that JFK spent a considerable amount of time in this region during his 1960 campaign. While this strategy helped politicians such as Andy Beshar and Joe Manchin, as well as increase Tom Wolf's margin, this strategy is probably outdated and DOA in the post-Trump era, as Trump continues to be seen as a hero in those areas.

It's the inverse of why many New England (and Midwest until recently) Republicans abandoned the GOP beginning in the 1980's. Most people at least in Massachusetts seem to be socially progressive and economically center-right, but feel alienated and abandoned from the largely Southern (& increasingly Midwestern) and evangelical GOP. Regional politicians like Baker, Collins, and Sununu are more popular than the mainstream opponents that they faced for a reason.

I was once a decent fit for the Blue Dog wing of the Dem party and considered myself to be one, but the last few years has made me feel like an alien in the party I once belonged to, which is why I currently support mostly Republicans.