A key question for politicians in Georgia and around the nation is how do the views of voters in small towns differ from those in big cities? We sought to answer that question by talking with our neighbors.
Carroll County is a mix of chicken and cattle farms, former mill towns, a thriving center of education, manufacturing and healthcare, growing retail and commuter homes. We facilitated three focus groups to listen to voters. We found key areas of agreement among professional white women and working class Black people and we heard the angst about the future from college students.
All Americans want political leaders to listen to them. This is especially true outside our metropolitan areas. Small-town America rarely sees itself reflected in the news. The only time a news truck comes to Carroll County is when there is some kind of tragedy. So, it was no surprise that once our focus groups convened, we had little trouble getting the participants to share what was on their minds and in their hearts.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
We started with three demographic groups that are considered key to future political control in Georgia. College-educated white women have historically leaned Republican but are shifting to supporting Democrats in recent elections. Young people are the future, and while they lean strongly Democratic at the national level, they are more evenly divided in Georgia. And Black people who vote intermittently are increasingly likely to vote Republican, especially the men, and in general, the size of Black voter turnout is crucial for the success of Democratic candidates.
As the polling suggests, the professional white women were a diverse group, leaning left and right. Across this diversity one concern stood out: extreme divisiveness and people being unwilling to work together. The examples went from the very local to the national: The parent who did not make time for a meeting with their child’s teacher, but could find time to complain about some grievance with the school; and the politicians in Washington who won’t listen to all their constituents, or work with other politicians to move our communities forward. They were exasperated and at a loss on how to fix our politics and civic culture.
Black intermittent voters were also concerned about the future, but their concern showed up as strong sense of spiritual and moral decay. Their worries ranged from gun violence, to social media’s influence, to the absence of God in public and private life. Their concerns about the future were varied, but their worries about the present were consistent. Economic stress and racial injustice were seen as major impediments to their quality of life. They did not feel like the healthcare system worked for them. While their views on economic issues were generally liberal, their views on hot-button social issues like abortion and pot legalization were varied.
Almost all of our panel of college students had a very bleak view of the future. They shared concern about the catastrophic effects of climate change, felt traumatized by gun violence and did not think the older generations cared about the future they were leaving behind. Our panel met shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and access to abortion and contraception was a major issue for this group. Like Black voters, the young people were concerned their votes don’t matter and politicians do not listen to them.
We did not have time to discuss all the issues that are being debated at the state and national level. Nor was that our goal. We were looking for areas of common ground, not ways to divide and conquer.
What we found in common was a loss of hope for our common future; and an almost universal fear that we are dividing into insular groups who will fight each other for dominance. National opinion surveys show large majorities of Americans share this concern for the future.
Our discussions suggest that the leader who can respond to this fear and articulate a hopeful vision for our common future can appeal across issue divides. The leader who promotes and demonstrates a new civic engagement that highlights listening and respect will bring in new voters who want to be heard.
Whether well-off or struggling, young or old, Black or white, our focus group members want politicians who will work to restore the “we” in “We the People of the United States of America.”
Bryan Hager is President of Carrollton Democracy Project, a nonprofit consultancy working to amplify the voices of residents of small town and rural Georgia.
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