Researcher cited in 'White Rural Rage' debunks authors' claims, says 'the thing about rage — I’ve never found it'

A recent piece in Politico highlighted the flaws of the new book “White Rural Rage,” which recently stirred up controversy for its attempt to promote the idea that rural white Americans are a “threat to the world’s oldest Constitutional democracy.” 

Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman, the book's two authors, claimed in their work that rural Americans are the most bigoted demographic in America and they further said that their work was backed up by data. One of the researchers who created the date cited in the book, however, said it was drastically misunderstood.

Nicholas Jacobs, whose own research about rural America was referenced in the book to support Scheller and Waldman's assertions, explained that his research did not conclude that there is "rage" among rural voters or that they are a direct threat to democracy. His research, he said, observed the overall sentiment of voters, finding that 27 percent of rural voters believe that if the opposing candidate wins in November, “people will need to take drastic action” to stop him from taking office.

While that number may be high for some, it is the exact same proportion as voters in urban and suburban areas. Because of this, the data can conclude that it is not necessarily true to say that rural Americans are more extremist than their urban counterparts.

Jacobs also pointed out that the characterization of “rural rage” by voices on the left is not a new concept. After Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, in which he won several key swing states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania largely in part to rural voters, the Democratic Party seemed to find reasons why rural Americans felt alienated by them. Democrats and leftist pundits have been attempting to understand Trump voters since 2016 and on many occassions determined that their voting choices must have been the result fo racism.

"This latest obsession with rural rage is nothing new," Jacobs wrote. "After 2016, when rural voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania put former President Donald Trump over the top, Democrats tried to figure out why they had gone so sour on the Democratic Party. Some liberal thinkers called out the left’s reflexive condescension and dismissal of rural voters that escalated during the George W. Bush administration and peaked with Hillary Clinton’s campaign and her dismissal of Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables.” Some said the party should increase attention to rural issues and nearby rural communities."

Demcorat leaders speak about rural Americans with a certain level of disdain, such as former Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton referring to Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables.”  

The authors of "White Rural Rage" appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to further explain their views and to argue that rural white people are “the most racist, xenophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-gay, geo-demographic in the country.” 

Scheller went on to claim that rural white Americans are the group with the most anti-democratic sentiment in the country, not believing in an independent press or free speech. He further asserted that this group is the most prone to justifying violence as a means of public discourse.

"What seemingly set apart this book is that the authors claimed to have data backing up their assertions," Jacobs wrote, quoting the authors, who said: "We provide the receipts."

"What is their data," Jacobs wrote, "my friends and colleagues asked, and why do they get it so wrong?"

"Imagine my surprise when I picked up the book and saw that some of that research was mine," he continued, "I’m an academic who studies rural Americans and lives in rural Maine. My job and passion is to pore over reams of data, including some of the largest surveys of rural voters ever conducted. Sitting on my computer are detailed responses from over 25,000 rural voters that I have conducted over the last decade and used to publish a range of peer-reviewed and widely cited research. And I’ve done it all largely to make sense of why rural voters are continually drawn to the Republican Party."

"But the thing about rage — I’ve never found it."