The Nonmetro Vote and the Election of Donald Trump

Securing an overwhelming majority of the rural vote was vital to Donald Trump’s surprise win in the 2016 presidential election. This article provides an analysis of the relationship between rural/urban residence and 2016 voting patterns. The Trump campaign’s unique emphasis on economic and racial issues attracted large numbers of voters from groups threatened by rapid cultural, economic, and demographic change occurring in the US. Prominent among threatened groups is the rural, white working class. The analysis reveals that rural counties where a large percentage of the residents were white, with low levels of education and working in the goods-producing industries, cast a proportionally large share of their votes for Trump. The analysis also makes it apparent that it is not rural residence, per se, but other characteristics (white, poorly educated, and working in the goods-producing industries) that resulted in the strong Trump vote