it’s a default liberal assumption that the right’s frontline
troops are invariably “poor, provincial folk” or an “isolated,
rural fringe” or “rootless, anomic people searching for personal
stability,”

It always amazes me that the Left is able to simultaneously
dismiss any opposition to their Nanny State as coming from people
of this description, who they unreservedly loathe as Racist!(TM),
uneducated, fundie sub-humans unworthy of the right to vote, while
at the same time demanding ever-expanding welfare state programs
aimed at precisely this demographic. When viewed as voters, they
are scum who deserve what is coming to them, but when viewed as
future wards of the state, they are sad, blameless victims of the
Evil 1% who only need someone from the government to stop by to
feed and clothe them, and heal their wounds.