Election 2020

[Eric the Green]

I would say those rural low information voters have changed, because there is no such thing as a right-wing populist; never was and never can be. They are voting against their own power and interests, whereas populism is about the power of the people and putting the government back in peoples' hands instead of the wealthy and powerful elite. They were more informed in past years, because their community informed them, especially labor unions, the grange, clubs, non-fundie churches, etc. That enabled them to know who really represented their interests. That infrastructure has been replaced by talk radio, the tabloids, Fox News, fundie churches and TV shows, and social media groups; IOW the right-wing echo chamber. Despite the information age, there is less information, and more bubbles.

So now the right-wing of today, though composed of classes that used to be populist (remember WJ Bryan came from Nebraska and got his votes mostly from today's red states) is no longer populist. The rural low-info voters vote for the corporate elites without really knowing it. They support the trickle-down ideology because they have been brainwashed to resent welfare handouts, and they vote their religious and racial prejudices, but in practice this translates into deregulation and lower taxes for the wealthy instituted by the Republicans they vote for. Trump is exhibit A, promising to help the working class but socking it to them by enabling their bosses instead.