The Reagan thing was 25 years ago. What have they done since then? And have you now or ever lived there? I know, I lived there. They are morons.
And again, people wonder why Bush is having problems with working class voters who own guns, go to church and are culturally conservative. Go on, alienate more people and soon the base gets weaker and weaker. One very iornic things is that the professionals who are most helped by these economic chnages such as Doctors, Lawyers and related feilds, are also trending Democratic based on social issues.
Well, yes. I've lived equivalent places (southern IL.) Just because people are morons doesn't mean you totally write off their votes. Most people in the US are *not* smart, are *not* going to be "professionals." Outside of genetic surgery, they aren't going to be. The GOP look the other way while we allow them to devolve into a meth using-self-destructing rural and small town underclass, or the GOP can actually get a bit more populist.