Rural voters have been flocking to the GOP in recent decades, reports governing.com.
This year, there are 15 states where rural residents make up more than half the population. Republicans are governors of 11 of them. And the GOP has a chance to pick up the other four in November.
The reason? Democratic messages simply aren’t connecting with rural Americans. Rural voters tend to be more conservative on family and social issues. And they have higher rates of property ownership, and thus prefer lower tax rates.
James Gimpel, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, says there is “a gaping, canyon-sized urban-rural chasm separating support for the parties.”