As a progressive who has spent years working on the rural vote, this is the graph that keeps me up at night. Only 34% of rural White voters think @JoeBiden cares about them. But, 59% of rural White voters think Donald Trump cares about them. This is why Democrats lose.
It might be tempting to write rural White voters off as racist. Some definitely are. But 59% of rural Whites think the rise of white supremacists are a major threat to our country. (And don't forget that 1 in 5 rural voters are People of Color and not included in this data.)
65% of rural White voters want police reforms that will "stop the killing and abuse of African Americans, Latinos, and People of Color."
67% of rural White voters want to make it easier to prosecute police officers when they kill or abuse people.
58% of rural White voters want the government to take steps to reduce the number of people behind bars.
78% of rural White voters support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Other Democrats think they lose rural White voters because progressives are pushing for universal Healthcare. But 80% of rural White voters think "Our government should ensure that everyone living in this country has access to affordable health care."
And we're not losing rural White voters on abortion either.
And it's not climate change. 75% of rural Whites are with us on that as well.
So what's the reason Democrats are losing rural White voters? It's because they aren't talking to rural White voters. Only 36% of rural White voters were contacted this cycle by Democratic Candidates or the Party. In fact, only 50% of rural white voters were contacted by anyone.
So is it any surprise that @JoeBiden only won 33% of the rural White vote?
This is why @RuralOrganizing is calling for a National Office of Rural Prosperity. Democrats need not only to show up and engage rural voters, but show up with a plan. stormlake.com/articles/joe-b…
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The last thing #AmericanFarmers need right now is for more food processing plants to shut down. But that trend won't end until Trump truly recognizes the dignity of agricultural work and gives immigrant food and farm workers the respect they deserve and the protection they need.
Our farmers are already on the brink. Dairy farmers are flushing their milk, corn producers are seeing closure of ethanol plants, livestock farmers are getting hit with the trade wars and coronavirus disruptions of export markets.
Now, Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda has put the entire food system at risk. The vast majority of our agricultural workforce is foreign born. You can’t protect our #FoodSupply without protecting immigrant and refugee workers—which Trump is refusing to do. I
I've spent a decade working with rural immigrant communities across South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota. Everyone I know is telling me that the meat packing #COVID19 outbreaks in their communities are way worse than what's being reported locally and nationally. #Immigration
The Trump Administration's response to protect the food system has been non-existent. There needs to be a national task force to keep food and farm workers safe and healthy so our food system can stay open. politico.com/news/2020/04/1…
To understand the full impact of COVID on the food system you have to look at the entire meat packing region that roughly follows the boundaries of the Missouri and Upper Mississippi River Basins. State and local metrics are missing the big picture.
I grew up in South Dakota calling this plant simply "John Morrell". Everyone in South Dakota knows this plant by its awful smell and the horrible stories we all hear about how workers there are treated. argusleader.com/story/news/202…
But what I didn't know is that Morrell merged with AMK Corp. in the 1960s and operated as a subsidiary of another Corp. until Smithfield Foods bought it in 1995. In 2013, Smithfield was purchased by Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. for $4.72 billion. daytondailynews.com/business/owner…
We all know the meat packing industry exploits immigrants—especially undocumented immigrants. But the consolidation of corporate power in our food chain is also destroying the lives of family farmers and small town economies. desmoinesregister.com/story/money/ag…
For 10 years I’ve worked on progressive policies like immigration reform while living in rural or red states. Below is a thread to try and help progressives avoid repeating the same mistakes we’ve made in the past especially when it comes to the #electability argument.
Obviously the Democratic brand is a liability in rural communities. @RuralOrganizing 2018 midterm polling showed that 68% of rural Americans consider themselves to be conservative or moderate. But that's only half of the picture. ruralorganizing.org/polling-brief-…
Democrats tend to engage rural voters in one of two ways. They either outright ignore them or try to sound more like Republicans. This cycle, many DC consultants are pushing the latter which is a big mistake. thehill.com/opinion/campai…