The Rural Voter: The Politics of Place and the Disuniting of America

by Daniel Shea, Nicholas F. Jacobs

The widening gulf between rural and urban America is becoming the most serious political divide of our day. Support for Democrats, up and down the ballot, has plummeted throughout the countryside, and the entire governing system is threatened by one-party dominance. After Donald Trump’s surprising victories throughout rural America, pundits and journalists went searching for answers, popping into roadside diners and opining from afar. Rural Americans are supposedly bigots, culturally backward, lazy, scared of the future, and radical. But is it that simple? Is the country splintering between two very different Americas―one rural, one urban?

This pathbreaking book pinpoints forces behind the rise of the “rural voter”―a new political identity that combines a deeply felt sense of place with an increasingly nationalized set of concerns. Combining a historical perspective with the largest-ever national survey of rural voters, Nicholas F. Jacobs and Daniel M. Shea uncover how this overwhelmingly crucial voting bloc emerged and how it has roiled American politics. They show how perceptions of economic and social change, racial anxieties, and a traditional way of life under assault have converged into a belief in rural uniqueness and separateness. Rural America believes it rises and falls together, and that the Democratic Party stands in the way.

An unparalleled exploration of rural partisanship, this book offers a timely warning that the chasm separating urban and rural Americans cannot be papered over with policies or rhetoric. Instead, The Rural Voter shows how this division is the latest chapter in the enduring conflict over American identity.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Audiobook

488 pages, Hardcover

Published November 21, 2023

Reviews

[Lucie Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

i read this with my boss over the course of my summer internship — i really liked it, and it enforced my already held belief of rural views being borne out of a transition from a production to a consumption economy. also all struggle is class struggle YA HEARDDDD

this is an ethnographic social science book so pretty nonnarrative and academic, fyi

[Dustin Resch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really important. It overturns and corrects many myths about rural America and it does so using extensive recent survey data as well as hither to underutilizes historical research. The most important conclusion of the book is that rural voters view the political world through a lens of place. This perspective reveals a deep commitment on the part of rural Americas to their community and a strong sense of solidarity with their neighbours. It is this factor that has shaped the voting habits of rural Americas far more profoundly than the easy scapegoats the media often uses to disregard rural dwellers. Much of the conclusions of this book have resonance for what I think is going on in rural Canada, especially in the wester half of the country. The reason I only gave this book three stars is due to the overwhelming infatuation the authors place on explaining (and reexplaining) their research methodology. I don’t mind a chapter on methodology, but the authors wove lengthy methodological discussions throughout the book and that grew extremely tiresome.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing Investigation Marred by Academic Elitism. A disclosure up front: as I get into the meat of this review momentarily, know that I am literally a man with "R == R" tattooed on his arm, which reads "Real is Real" for those less familiar with mathematics and C-family programming, and -for those less familiar with the work in question- it is the actual subheading for Part III of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

Now, as to the actual text at hand for this review: It really was quite remarkable. Don't let the three star rating fool you: this is a book that you *need* to read if you hope to have any remotely accurate understanding of politics in the United States, as it is the singular best book I've found to date on just what makes its titular subject a truly distinct class. In likely north of 90% of the time, I can tell you straight up that no matter what you *think* the rural voter is or how you *think* they vote or what you *think* they value... you're more than likely wrong. Read this book to set your facts straight, and proceed from there as you will.

Now, as to the star deductions: The first is fairly standard for me, though some readers may have less of a problem with it. Quite simply, I expect any nonfiction book to be well documented, and by that I mean at least approaching the 20-30% mark (which is the typical average in my experience, though as some other reviews this year have noted, I'm slowly getting less stringent on that as long as the book in question is at least close to that number). However, this book had barely half of the bottom edge of the range, clocking in at just around 11% of the text. So there's the first star deduction, one I knew of before I ever read a word of this text.

The second star deduction is likely given away by the "Marred By Academic Elitism" part of the title of this review. Indeed, while the authors both note that they actively live in rural America and work at a small college, their active partisanship is rather blatant and even openly embraced - and of the typical sort most would expect from Academia. Indeed, one reason I didn't deduct *two* stars here - yes, some would say the elitism and partisanship are *that* heavy handed, certainly at times - was because even as the authors wanted *Democrats* to become more active with rural voters (and yes, they specifically noted exactly that multiple times, particularly later in the text), they also openly noted that more people *generally* need to get more active with rural voters and allow those voters the active choice in candidates and policies to support or oppose, rather than simply allowing national politics to take the fore unopposed. As a two time rural/ suburban small town City Council candidate myself... that was actually *the* message I centered both of my campaigns around - that the People would have a direct choice. (For those who care, if any, I lost both races roughly 75%-25%, though the second race was a Special Election and yet had higher turnout than the first, a General Election. So I consider that fact alone a moral win. :D)

But truly, even if you don't agree with the authors' heavy handed elitist partisanship - read this book anyway. They really do show quite a bit of solid research that you need to understand if you expect to play well in rural America generally, and even if you grew up in the town/ region you're hoping to win an election it... this research may show even you things about the rural voter more generally that likely apply to even your specific rural voters. It will certainly be worth your effort to read and decide for yourself.

Which brings me to another class of reader, as someone who was *also* a former Party Leader (having served as both the local affiliate Chair of my local Libertarian Party as well as on the Libertarian Party of Georgia's State Executive Committee as both a member and an appointee): Party Leadership, and particularly those in *any* US Political Party (to be clear, any organization that considers itself such, regardless of State election laws) who are responsible for candidate training and education, or even overall Party outreach or strategy. In any of those cases and in any of those Parties, you need to read this book. (And for those unaware, there actually are literally upwards of 100 such organizations with ballot access in at least one State across the United States, though only the Green Party and Libertarian Party have threatened - or achieved - enough ballot access to *theoretically* win the Presidency this Millennium.)

Overall a solid, if flawed, text, and very much recommended.

[LaShanda Chamberlain]

Using the largest-ever national survey of rural voters alongside historical data going all the way back to 1824, the authors uncover how a distinct rural political identity took shape. This identity is built on a fierce sense of place, values like self-reliance and fairness, and a healthy dose of anxiety over economic and social change. Spoiler alert: rural voters are not just a bunch of backward racists as the usual stereotypes suggest. Instead, they see their community’s fate as tied together and genuinely believe the Democratic Party does not understand them.

The Rural Voter cuts through the lazy narratives about rural America with cold, hard facts. It shows that rural grievance comes from a sense of unfairness and cultural threat rather than just ignorance or extremism. If you are hoping policy tweaks or slick political speeches will magically bridge the urban-rural divide, think again. This is a deep cultural clash over what America really means. Jacobs and Shea approach their work with real rigor and respect, offering insights that anyone interested in the country’s political future should pay attention to. Usually, I am a fast reader, but this one demanded I slow down and reread because it hits way too close to home with what is going on right now.

A huge thanks to NetGalley, the authors & the publisher for the opportunity to read this advanced copy!!

[Jamie Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't quite know what I was expecting. It is likely insight that I was seeking. I do not get a long with rural people. I have lived in rural areas and they have vastly different priorities than I do. After 5 years in a rural neighborhood, which was known as a high income area for some reason, I bought a home in the city and moved. I am just not a rugged individualist and I like sidewalks, libraries, and nearby schools. And my former neighbors valued large truck, boats, and four wheelers. They eat different things than I do. They have different hobbies. They do not like college and reading books, generally. They will be sad as the rural areas disappear. I will miss farms and open spaces, but not like they will miss their whole thing. I want to make my city more walkable and they want to have even bigger trucks in wider driveways. I want more parks and accessibility and they want to go four wheeling.
Anyway. none of that has anything to do with the book, that is just why I read it.
I need to work on understanding these people and having compassion for them. I will be honest though. The book helped with some understanding but it did not help me with compassion.

The book feels too long to be honest. I need a shorter version.
Great research! Great job!

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Though written by political scientists, it was written for a more general audience. The authors are left-leaning academics in Maine, and live in rural parts. They do a great job of separating the regular rural voter from the rabble rouser right-wingers, and also showing that there is a decent amount of similarity between lots of rural folk and urban/suburban people. Rural voters do carry around a lot of grievance, don't trust the feds, follow Trump, and have a particular affinity for their way of life. But there's also a lot more. They make the great point of noting that all of America deserves the competition of at least two viable political parties, and Democrats need to show up in rural areas instead of bemoan how lost rural America is. Ultimately, a one-party rural America can carry all the downsides that the one-party Democratic Party South carried. And yes, the urban and suburban areas all need that competition too.
A really interesting book. Perhaps it could have been 100 pages less, but I enjoyed it.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think we all want to know more about the rural voter either because we long for that lifestyle ourselves, or we want to know what the heck they are thinking when they cast their votes for someone so distant from their way of life. We need to know so hopefully we can get this country back on track. So, that's why I wanted to read this.
But this book has a bit of an identity crisis going on. It's lengthy and filled with research, tables, statistics etc. It's a bit much for someone who just wants to get to the meat of the issue. Yet, it's very readable and has a tone that non-academics can appreciate. So, who is this book for? In attempting to reach a range of audiences, the book ties itself up in a few knots. The reader starts to skim....

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I have found some of it to be quite fascinating!

[Michael Fredette · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Rural Voter, Nicholas F. Jacobs Daniel M. Shea [Columbia University, 2023].

Two academics’s nuanced, data-driven account of the evolution of rural American populations into a grievance-driven reactionary voting bloc. The authors suggest that the cultural gap between rural populations and the rest of the country is not as yawning as they would appear at first glance, and that rural communities are still winnable for progressives. The Rural Voter engages with stereotypes about the titular demographic which they view as over-simplifications frequently shaped by popular culture depictions from The Andy Griffin Show to country music to Deliverance.

[Brian Moyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendous Survey Data and Analysis