Rural/uneducated/working class whites voting Republican has been a long-running trend and is rooted more in the culture war (guns, God, gays, abortion) and race politics the GOP uses to reach them than some notion of economic anxiety. Of course, actual economic anxiety gives way to scapegoating of liberals, minorities, immigrants, etc. as the reasons .... but these voters have been Republicans for decades now and it's certainly not because the Republicans are doing anything to help them. It's because the Republicans target them successfully with fearmongering and demonization campaigns and use things like nationalism, faux patriotism, religiosity, and professed love of guns, law enforcement, and the military as a means of cornering the cultural market -- under the premise that America is "their" country, but their country and values are under attack by "others" (whom the Democrats support).

It's been a long time running and has worked quite well. IMHO, the Democrats thinking they can somehow be the party of these people AND the party of diversity and inclusion (which they are) is a laughable fools errand. As silly as the GOP thinking they can simultaneously be the party of white nationalism and diversity and inclusion.