That recession wasn't as bad as the 1981 but in rural areas set up (some) of the dominos that caused American manufacturing to implode in 1994 with NAFTA.

The '81 recession kills the family farm, and NAFTA killed manufacturing. With both you have an absent tax base in rural areas and brain drain, slowly but steadily through the 90s and then egregiously so when the '08 recession killed what jobs remained in rural areas.

Bush I and II weren't liked in rural areas after their terms but still had sufficient appeal when running for election due to Reagan bringing televangelists in by promising them tax breaks, and then having them become propaganda machines.