Why can't Democrats win in rural areas?

[moondust]

102. IMO it started long ago

with resistance to "progress"--which generally meant "industrialization" and increasing movement away from an agricultural economy that catered more to rural areas. The resistance was known as "conservatism" and the GOP was historically the "conservative" party.

Old habits and family traditions die hard.

In my lifetime it has been largely corporatism that killed rural America. Before Reagan's "greed is good" 1980s rural living was much more about "community" and quality of life and not so much about greed and getting rich. Then Walmart moved in and killed off countless small businesses in rural areas. Main street businesses in small towns were closed and boarded up never to return. The kids grew up and left for the cities to get an education and find jobs.

I don't know if it would help to occasionally remind rurals that democracy is a numbers game and thus political parties are naturally going to focus heavily on densely populated areas. But that does not mean they will be forgotten.