- Prior to the 1990s, rural white Americans voted similarly as urban whites. In the 1990s, rural areas experiencing population loss and economic decline began to support Republicans. In the late 2000s, the GOP consolidated control of rural areas by appealing to less-educated and racist rural dwellers. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/sequential-polarization-the-development-of-the-ruralurban-political-divide-19762020/ED2077E0263BC149FED8538CD9B27109 2049 comments science