Explainer: How Democrats Expanded Their Map and Won Rural America

Over the past 25 years, rural Americans have gradually shifted toward the Republican Party, according to research from the Pew Research Center. The movement has been fueled by rural voters' disagreements with Democrats over cultural questions and economic policy. The Pew findings describe a long-term trend rather than a single election outcome. The source article is an explainer examining how Democrats nonetheless expanded their reach into rural areas. Details beyond the Pew data and the stated causes were not provided in the source text.