I'm from a rural area. There are four things allowing the spread of conservative reactionary politics and holding back the support of the "left" despite its economic policies being more beneficial to rural citizens.
One is a perceived disrespect for personal freedoms, mainly with the Second Amendment; people in rural areas simply own guns as a matter of fact and right and are far less likely to commit or be a victim of a gun crime. They do not feel they should be punished for something that, to them, is mostly an urban problem.
Two is a perceived disrespect for religious views. And while I find many religious views abhorrent, and do not propose backing down on expanding rights and freedoms for all, this is something we're stuck with for the time being. It's probably fleeting, despite the recent backlash, but for now, it is what it is.
The third is the big elephant in the room, lingering racism. Again, something that is likely fleeting, but we can see how easily many white people can be manipulated into putting their racial anxieties above even their economic well-being. The old adage, tell the poorest white man he is better than any black man, and you can pick his pocket clean. Hell, he might even give you his money himself. And again, I do not propose backing down, but perhaps as more gains are made toward racial equality, this will become less of an issue.
And the fourth is the fact that we simply do not have an effective "left-wing" party infrastructure in this country at all. We can talk until we're blue in the face about "the left" but the actual left is all but powerless and shut out of our current system.
So while Republicans have taken a hard right turn and offer nothing but reactionary and exploitative politics, what do the Democrats really offer to the working class or the rural worker? They're just classic center-right Republicans, aka corporatist neoliberals. So if your choice is between having your grievances on guns, God, and race acknowledged with no economic assistance... or with having your grievances mocked, and also receiving little to no economic assistance, or heavy-handed corporatist-backed "assistance," what do you choose?
