Redneck Revolt. Some rights reserved.This article is in Series 2 on ‘confronting authoritarian populism and the rural world’, linked to the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI). An overview and links to Series 1 can be found here.
The election of Donald Trump, coupled with the growth of right-wing populism around the globe, has spurred considerable reflection about the multiple divides that stratify the current US political spectrum, particularly the urban/rural and racial rifts. Rural and working-class whites have received special scrutiny for their higher-than-expected turnout, and are often casually portrayed as the root cause of Trumpism.
While support for Trump, and the right-wing populism he tapped into, is definitely high among rural whites, it is by no means total. In fact, the spread of Trumpism has also inspired the spread of efforts to counter it.
