Historically, in the past, there was a wave of automation from the 1900s-1920s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#1920s

Historically, in the past, there was a wave of automation from the 1900s-1920s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#1920s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_...) that arguably affected rural America to a much greater extent than this current wave: the mechanization of agriculture. Back then, the solutions provided were roughly: A) An emphasis in education. This doesn't help folks ingrained, but a strong rural education system did help the children move to the cities where the opportunities were. (This describes one of my grandfathers: our family still owns a farm, but only one person is needed to maintain it these days. He got a college education and moved.) From my perspective, this is one of the better options even for the modern automation problem. B) Some forms of subsidies and quotas, as tried in the 1930s. I would personally prefer options more on the lines of improving health, resettlement help, and public works. Handouts for nothing create stagnation, and handouts in the wrong direction (eg agriculture subsidies, which tend to benefit farmers, who often may be prosperous already) may create distorted markets. Later World War II also provided an escape valve (another option I don't see terribly appealing). It's tough for me to see anything else working. If companies start becoming more remote friendly, we'll need less of option B perhaps. But I can't see escaping option A. The politics of Donald Trump can be explained to some extent as an exploitation of the long-running "Southern Strategy" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy), which in contrast to the name is actually national in nature. I do not believe that rural voters are rejecting the idea of the safety net per se. It's more that in the current American political scene, identity / tribe politics often far overshadows economic politics. I believe that Bernie Sanders showed that a safety net oriented campaign with less emphasis on identity / tribe type politics can be quite popular with rural voters.