I often roll my eyes a bit at the "elites are out of touch with the Real American Heartland" stuff, not because I think it's entirely wrong, just that it's usually said elites who are making the claims and then still remaining out of touch, not just with the Real American Heartland but with just about everything that's more than six inches from their noses. In other words, they're still getting it wrong but trying to make it better by pretending they care.
But more seriously I do think that one completely under addressed issue, in politics, media, and pop culture, is rural poverty. Poverty in this country tends to be associated with cities and by extension racial minorities, but there is a lot of deep poverty in rural areas experienced by both whites and minorities.
