More than two-thirds of these voters view the Democratic Party unfavorably — including 48 percent who hold a “very unfavorable” view. Voters in rural communities skew Republican, but are not exclusively so, while rural Democrats and independents are slightly more likely than their counterparts in the overall electorate to hold dim views of the party now in power.

The survey also gave voters a range of political stances to choose from, effectively asking which positions held by congressional candidates are most important to earn their vote. Using these responses, Morning Consult conducted a driver analysis, which gauged the relationship between a rural voter’s prioritization of a given issue versus their favorability of the Democratic Party.

The findings show that candidate positions on cultural matters play an outsize role in forming perceptions of Democrats: Among 21 issues tested, a rural voter’s desire for candidates to support securing the U.S.-Mexico border had the strongest correlation with negative views about the Democratic Party, followed by Christian values, support for the police and increasing military spending.