Tool
Rural Voter Polling
Our uniquely focused polls capture the issues and values most important to rural voters, as well as the information gap making it harder for many rural voters to take action on these issues. Learn more about ways to effectively engage these audiences.
Make the Case for Rural Investment
Share the poll with funders to show the need to fund rural engagement programs.
Outreach and education to rural voters go a long way, since these groups are severely under-contacted by political campaigns: roughly one in four 18-29-year-olds was not contacted in elections leading up to 2024, as well as one in five voters who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color.
Inform Your Strategy
As you build your work plans, keep in mind the key findings about rural voters’ essential attitudes and top priorities. For the most effective messaging, consider engaging veterans, local law enforcement, farmers, and small business owners. Along with family and friends, these messengers rank among the most trusted for rural voters.
Lift up Your Policy Priorities
The poll shows rural voters support the same top policy priorities as our grantees — in particular, rural voters are economic populists.
- The top concern identified across demographics was the economy, jobs, and inflation.
- 57% of surveyed rural voters agree: “We should grow our economy by getting more money in the pockets of working people, not corporations.”
- 76% would be more favorable to a leader who supports “requiring rich people and corporations to pay their fair share of taxes to invest in tools and opportunities for working people.”
- 86% support banning junk fees.
Abortion Policy
Personal Freedom is Paramount
Rural and small-town people overwhelmingly believe in personal freedom from government interference. In both polls, 77% of rural voters supported legal abortion, while only 23% supported bans.
Agricultural Policy
Invest in Working Families, Not Giant Corporations
- 88% support cracking down on meat processing monopolies and ensuring local businesses can compete.
- 87% support expanding broadband internet access to all communities in the United States. 87% believe in protecting our air, water, and natural resources from corporate and agricultural polluters and runoff.
- 62% agree that our government should invest more in clean energy, like wind and solar, to lower costs, support American energy independence, and create quality jobs that can’t be outsourced.
Housing Policy
Shared Concerns across Geography
Like our counterparts in urban and suburban places, rural people are concerned with rising housing costs.
Show the Real Rural
The polls are an opportunity to show who actually lives in our communities and what we care about. Make the case to reporters for the inclusion of rural communities and people in small cities in conversations about the most important issues facing the country. From local newspapers and radio to national outlets, Heartland Fund uses the polls as an advocacy tool and a way to attract media coverage.
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Civic Engagement Resources
Heartland Fund provides tools and original research to better understand rural voters.
Rural Map and Dashboard
Rural classifications to the country’s census tracts, counties, congressional districts, and states.
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What Works in Rural America
Guidelines for effective messaging, engagement, and communications.
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All the People, All the Places
A valuable landscape analysis for funders and other partners focused on the challenges and opportunities facing our small cities and rural areas.
Read more