Just my two cents, but the reaction from 2016 (and confirmed to an extent in 2020) has, for many commentators in elite media circles (think Damon Linker, for instance), been to assume the absolute worst case scenario for things happening outside of whatever their circle of life is like.
It's like the reverse Pauline Kael, where they are too self-aware of how different their environment is that they make assumptions of what things are like elsewhere.
Life in rural/exurban America is complicated.... yes, it is Trumpier, but that doesn't mean everyone who lives in these areas is Trumpy. And there's a geographic split as well, whereby these areas in northern states (Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc) are more secular or mainline Catholic/Protestant vs. evangelical (like in the south or in states like Indiana), that has an impact on how voters vote in these areas.