Understand Wisconsin politics and understanding American politics becomes possible. The “badger state” is a fascinating mix of people, cultures and economies, from industrial to rural. Democrats, Republicans (the party was started in Wisconsin), progressives, socialists and many other groups from across the political spectrum have won office in Wisconsin. From 2011 to 2019, Scott Walker was Wisconsin’s governor. If you don’t know or remember, Walker’s terms were far from calm.
Walker, an activist conservative Republican, advanced an agenda that promoted deregulation, independence from established powers in Washington, DC, and cutting the state budget in service of economic growth. He supported traditional conservative issues and fought many liberal power structures in the state, including public unions and the University of Wisconsin. Opposition to him led to a highly dramatic recall election in which Walker prevailed. The divisions in state politics deepened during the period and forecast, in many ways, conflicts that are national today.
Kathy Cramer, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has studied her state’s politics for decades. Dissatisfied with polling and quantitative studies of political culture, Cramer began doing on-the-ground Wisconsin research in 2007, attending local meetings and events, asking people questions. She kept at it, blanketing the state, and in 2016 she wrote Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker. The book received tremendous well-deserved attention and praise for its content and for how Cramer conducted research. Cramer explains rural resentment, how it came to be and how it frames politics and identity.
When Cramer began her research, she expected to focus on social class identity. The more she learned, the more that geographic identity emerged as a driving factor. The concept became clearer over the years and is a key theme of the book. Cramer calls it “rural consciousness,” a perspective that encompasses “perceptions of power, values and lifestyles, and resources.” The people she interviewed keenly felt a lack of power, unfairness, and the absence of really being heard by those who wield power. The rural perspective emphasizes hard work and links it in opposition to social welfare programs. Cramer notes that while race is a factor on many levels, it is not necessarily determinative in the rural consciousness. Rural consciousness developed and gained muscle alongside growth of the Wisconsin Republican party. The book explores a range of issues, noting both the data and the ways in which the issue is understood by locals. For example, rural Wisconsin residents were certain that urban Wisconsin residents had no real concept of rural poverty. Regardless of whether accurate or not, and there are many ways to explain the numbers, that kind of certitude informed and directed discussions and policy preferences. The people Cramer interviewed felt unheard and without agency in a system that they perceived to be inherently unfair and indifferent to their wants and needs.
The role of the University of Wisconsin is of special interest here and to all concerned about the public’s relationship with higher education. As one of the state’s most important public entities, UW was a consistent target of Governor Walker. It mattered little that public service has long been a critical component of UW’s mission, for many in rural Wisconsin did not feel connected to the institution. They spoke of physical and symbolic distance, about UW’s priorities not necessarily including their needs, and of rising costs of attendance. One of the underlying themes was that many from rural communities did not believe that UW wanted them or their family members to attend. Central to all this, Cramer makes clear, are questions of “respect, acknowledgement and understanding.” Educators and policy makers must take note if they want to see more people endorse higher education.
Cramer’s prose throughout is accessible and disarming, spiced with midwestern humor. When she jokes that gas station conversations are not the regular way that political scientists obtain information, one invariably asks “Why not?” I especially appreciated the extensive discussion of her research process, from the clothes she wore to including the questions she asked and when she asked them. Many of Cramer’s interviews took place over years, and she tailored questions accordingly as she became better known to communities. Not only does this book explain, it shows us good ways to ask political questions.
Politics of Resentment is an outstanding work that makes sense of the urban-rural divide, the rural resistance to programs that advance economic equality and social justice, and above all, the priorities and values of many rural voters.
David Potash