Why can't Democrats win in rural areas?

[MineralMan]

75. That's a complicated question, actually.

To say that people in rural areas are less well educated is probably not the correct answer, though.

Instead, I think it's more about who benefits the most from the actions of any political party. Democrats tend to focus more on more heavily populated areas, both in campaigns and in measures recommended for legislative action. That can leave less-populated areas feeling like they're being ignored, unfortunately.

I'll give you an example: Agriculture is more or less a rural enterprise. I grew up in an agricultural area - a small town in California. Economically, agriculture was the primary industry where I grew up, and my parents owned a small citrus farm. Government basically ignored them, except when it was looking for regulations to impose on farmers. Year after year and decade after decade, more and more regulations were put on farming. Every one of those cost money to implement.

By the time my parents died this year, at age 96, it was no longer possible for their 15 acre citrus and avocado farm to realize any profit at all. None. It became more costly to operate their farm than the value of the crops. And yet, even in their last year of farming, additional costs were being added through regulations requiring expenditures of funds needed to operate their farm. As executor of their estate and trustee of the family trust that owned the farm, I saw the numbers myself after they died. Had it not been for their savings, which were made during the decades when profitability was still possible, they could not have continued to operate that farm.

Before their deaths, they had sold the farm to someone else and it was in escrow when they died. As trustee, I saw the sale through to a successful closing, and that's the end of that. What the new owner will do with the property, I do not know. I imagine, though, that all the trees in the orchards there will be removed and a different sort of use will be the nest step. Farm after farm in that area has stopped growing citrus crops, due to unprofitability.

Many of the costly regulations have to do with environmental issues, health concerns, and farming practices. Many have been introduced by Democratic administrations. They have not helped farmers continue to farm, I'm afraid, despite the legitimate need for many of those regulations. I'm not a farmer. I left my home town at age 18 and moved on.

Further, it is not just the farmers themselves who feel this lack of concern by the government. Every business in agricultural areas is dependent on agriculture. Everyone is affected. So, that's why voters in that area vote for Republicans, who say they'll stop doing that kind of thing. They're lying, of course, but that's what they say.