Fox News Power Rankings: Trump country at a crossroads

Rural America, long a dependable base for Republicans, is showing signs of slipping ahead of the November midterms, according to the Fox News Power Rankings. Nearly two-thirds of rural voters chose President Donald Trump in 2024, a sharp climb from two decades ago, when the countryside was split fairly evenly. Now just under half say they plan to back the GOP this fall.

Economic worry drives much of the shift. Fewer than one in four rural respondents call the economy healthy, and just 28% see good or excellent job openings nearby. The administration has pointed to hiring gains and the AI boom, but those themes have not won this group over. Data centers add a wrinkle: 2% rank them as their top economic problem, which for those voters places them ahead of housing, living costs and employment.

Ohio and Iowa have stayed competitive most of the year, and rural House seats Trump carried by double digits are turning into margin-of-error races. In Wyoming, where Trump won 71. 6%, his best result in any state, Republican Chuck Gray is airing ads that mention neither the president nor the party.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Fox News’s reporting. Read the full story at Fox News →