LUMBERTON, N.C. — “Southern hospitality,” said my 19-year-old Cracker Barrel waitress, Evita. This was her answer after I asked why President Trump performed so strongly among voters last November in counties containing a Cracker Barrel restaurant. Then she added, “Gun rights, older folks with older ways. They’re from a generation that stresses an older American way.”
Evita was right: Nostalgia for “an older American way” is evident in every tool, sign and photograph that adorns the walls of Cracker Barrel restaurants. It was also the subtext of Trump’s campaign pledge to “Make America great again.”
Of all the compelling statistics to emerge from the 2016 election, one of the most interesting was this: Trump won 76 percent of the 493 counties with a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store; he won just 22 percent of the 184 counties with a Whole Foods Market.
This column is part of a new special four-year reporting project called Trump’s America: 9 counties that will define a presidency. You can read the rest of the column here. Find other articles, videos and photographs from Robeson County, N.C., at trump.washingtonexaminer.com.
Daniel Allott is deputy commentary editor for the Washington Examiner
