Racism, religion, arrogance , distrust of outsiders, are some of the reasons.

Although I would say that it is a mistrust that was fueled by certain elements that did not want to lose their control or position. It seldom has a valid reason, just division for the sake of division.

They would rather watch it all burn than see anything change. That, and their 'Murican' egos which cannot let anything go nor allow anything to survive unless it is under the auspices of said group.

I'd say vindictiveness and arrogance were the major reasons. Too many people are in the 'I do it because I can' group.

Never once in my 70 yrs have they done anything to help the backbone of our country.

"Dying of Whiteness."

Here's the synopsis copied from Amazon.

Don't need no help. Old school thinking.

Another tax cut for billionaires and corporations.

Kids eating what’s in their weekend backpack on the way home on Friday because they’re hungry. The fact that we have hungry children (or hungry anyone) in this country is an immoral disgrace.

Trump thinks people like Jeff Bezos need a tax break….even if the money comes from the SNAP program. Disgusting!

They eagerly absorb all the lies fed to them by Fox News, One America, and the like, and don't bother to check out what is going on around them. A very small percentage had watched any part of the Democratic Convention or had ever heard Kamala Harris speak. They knew only that Democrats were responsible for the high price of eggs.

I didn't grow up in the Appalachian part of Virginia, but my dad took us through rural parts of Virginia when we were growing up, and we saw some fairly run-down areas--by far NOT the worst. It was the easiest thing in the world for us to imagine why some people call Pennsylvania "Pittsburgh in the west, Philadelphia in the east and Alabama in the middle."

Although one of my grandfathers was from South Carolina, my parents grew up in New York. It took another generation for parts of my family to migrate back to the south. I have cousins in both New Hampshire and Tennessee.

But the reason why ignorance and choosing against common sense, as far as I can tell, has to do with two factors (if you exclude poor education). That would be the media and religion. The media for the obvious reason that all they watch is Fox "News" and actually believe what the hear (Republicanese: here) there (Republicanese: their). Religion, because religion is these areas is used for what it was originally meant: as a control tactic. "Do what I tell you, or terrible things will happen to you. I know this because God says so, and he talks only to me, so believe no one but me." This is not religion as a reasoned scholarly set of philosophical meditations, but religion as a primitive control mechanism that is a less physical method of control that requires fear of the unknown rather than fear of physical torture. It is far more effective when trying to control the masses. I met plenty of people who were suffering that proudly called themselves as "God-fearing," when they would have done themselves a far greater favor by being "starvation-fearing." But some people might get upset if they know that their starvation only serves nasty people and not God.

In the 19th century, Karl Marx wrote that "Religion ist das Opium des Volkes," opium being, in that day, a widely available pacifying pain killer. These days, beer and a TV screen blaring Fox "News" fills the same role--just as addictive, but more affordable and thus widespread--not only legal, but encouraged. No wonder we have such an uphill battle.

There was none. His approval rating runs between 36-39%. That data suggests that a good number of Trump voters would not support him again. I expect that's especially so for Biden to Trump voters.

look upon them and envy the greed of the republicans.

I'm from southwestern Va......a place that's red as your blood. Some places look like you're in a 3rd world country. Every time I go home I purposefully drive around until I spot a junked car with a Dump sticker on it. Doesn't take long.

I live around Camp Lejeune now and there are places here that would make Somalia look like Beverly hills. GOP stickers abound.

Love your posts Dunc!