Opportunity for Gains in Rural Areas

Jun 13, 10:43 AM CST

A recent poll commissioned by the Center for Rural Strategies finds that rural voters are disillusioned with President Bush and are worried about the war. Rural America is ready for change. This is the time for Democrats to increase competition and focus more energy on rural areas because they will be key to the success to of upcoming congressional and presidential elections.

The poll was conducted across the nation last month and reports responses from 804 likely rural voters, including rural voters from Nebraska.

Below are some of the findings from the poll put together by the Center for Rural Strategies:

•”Rural voters deliver a narrow plurality to a generic Democratic candidate for President: 46 – 43 percent. In contrast, President Bush won the rural vote in 2004 by 19 points.
•Voters are not inspired by any candidate for president, including Fred Thompson, who draws a modest 22 percent favorable, 18 percent unfavorable score among the 52 percent who are familiar with him.
•At the Congressional level, voters prefer Democrats in named trial heats 46 – 44 percent.
•Iraq poses challenges for both parties. While a narrow majority opposes the war, nearly 60 percent are close to someone serving or who has served in the fighting. This is not a “television war” for rural families.
•President Bush’s job approval numbers have dropped from 54 percent approve, 43 percent disapprove just prior to the 2004 election to 44 percent approve, 52 percent disapprove currently.
•Nonetheless, rural America remains a deeply conservative place (50 percent conservative in self-ascribed terms) and there is little evidence of shifting ideologies in this survey.”

Republican rural votes in the past have offset Democratic votes in urban areas. If Democrats want to win national elections they need to be competitive in rural areas, and with the decreasing approval rating of Bush in these rural areas, this is an opportunity that should not be overlooked. The chart below shows the falling approval rating of Bush in rural areas.

Even though rural voters may still consider themselves as very conservative, this is an appropriate time for Nebraska Democrats to up the ante and attract more rural votes for the upcoming elections. Rural Americans have not found a candidate for president that is overwhelmingly favorable and are feeling the effects of the war, so with a narrow gap between approval ratings of Republican and Democratic candidates alike, it is important to focus more energy in rural Nebraska.

“Democrats have a historic opportunity here,” said Democratic pollster and poll adviser Anna Greenberg, vice president of the Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. “Rural America is as politically competitive as any region in the country right now. It is a battleground, but it’s part of America that Republicans must win, and win decisively, if they are to compete a national level.”

For more information about the Center for Rural Strategies Poll click here.

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  1. The advice this report seems to be giving us is that we can beat the GOP on economic issues which are very important to rural voters, if we can negate the Republicans’ supposed moral values advantage.

    I think we can do more. In fact, I think we can turn the values debate on its arse. We can start by repeating this mantra: The Republican party is NOT PRO-LIFE! They want endless warfare. They believe in using death and torture as punishment(“They’re terrorists! Whatever we do to them, they deserve worse”). They lied us into an unnecessary war that has killed tens, probably hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Consider their record on pollution, global warming, AIDS, Darfur, Katrina, healthcare for veterans and the rest of us as well. Republican rule has left nothing but death and destruction in its wake.

    Health care is a moral issue. Global warming is a moral issue. Care of veterans is a moral issue. Equality and civil liberties are moral issues. Unfair trade/worker exploitation is a moral issue. It’s time to educate the folks on Democratic moral values.
    — Don Kuhns    Jun 13, 11:52 PM CST #
  2. I forgot to mention, Glenn Greenwald’s article on the al-Marri court decision is a must-read. You can read it here
    — Don Kuhns    Jun 13, 11:57 PM CST #
  3. Just received email from Sen White on property taxes and wanted to know about the Nebraska Leadership Project(NLP). When clicked – it connects to this web site (NDP).

    Is the NLP web site and organization connected to NDP? Is it coordinated with NDP?
    — Joe Shoemaker    Jun 14, 01:19 PM CST #
  4. Don,

    You are right about turning the values debate on its “arse.”

    I have always disagreed with those who propose that, for Democrats to win in Nebraska, we must offer only conservative candidates. I believe that Nebraska’s voters are ready, willing, and able to support candidates that will take a firm stand on traditional Democratic values and ideals.

    There is nothing at all wrong with what we believe in, it is just that we’ve sat on our duffs and allowed the Republicans to frame us as something we are not. It is time for us to stand up and fight for what we believe in. The voters of Nebraska will respect us only if we respect ourselves.

    I am darned proud to be a Democrat and willing to fight for anyone that is one.
    — Brian T. Osborn    Jun 14, 04:06 PM CST #
  5. Joe –

    The Nebraska Leadership Project is a completely separate entity. While it is not an affiliate or subsidiary of the NDP, it is an organization whose principles we certainly support.

    The link in the email was programmed in error. It should have gone directly to their site.
    — Eric Fought    Jun 15, 08:40 AM CST #

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