Well...Some would probably call me fairly "extreme" on environmental issues (perhaps especially certain Libertarians!), I don't think my views are what they are because I don't understand economics or technology. (I have documents from universities, and a professional career, that at least suggest otherwise!) I also spent...gosh, 15 years now...learning about atmospheric science, climate systems, etc. I don't think I'm delusional (but of course, nobody ever does, right?).
"Cultural issues" here being a stalking horse for just racism? I don't mean to be nasty, but I grew up in Pennsyltucky, and I have some understanding of white rural Americans' attitudes.
Cultural issue #1: Abortion. Views are very split: the Evangelicals oppose; the Methodists, Lutherans, UCC members, etc...not so much. Catholics, where they exist in rural America are (perhaps surprisingly) split.
Cultural issue #2: Civil rights. Yeah, a lot of rural whites are racist, pure and simple. Trust me; I grew up with these people; I know how they think, I know what they say. One of the reasons I got out of Pennsyltucky.
Cultural issue #3: LGBT rights (and for that matter, women's equality). Yeah, again, been there, seen that. I knew people who would have been perfectly happy to take a gay man, beat him within an inch of his life, and leave him for dead in a cornfield in the snow. I could name names, but I won't.
What other "cultural" issues are there? (Sincerely asking here.)
What I see, apart from the religious split on abortion, is...bigotry and hatred. Overt hostility to anybody seen as "different." (And I mean overt.)
For what it's worth, I don't think much can be done about these attitudes. It's not as everybody in rural America shares these views... but in each generation, the subset of kids who are more open-minded tend to out-migrate. The kids who "stay behind" tend to be those who buy into the bigotry. What we can do is outnumber and outvote them.