There's a combination of anti-regulation sentiments and poverty. Rural towns in particular have a lot of old ass beaters driving around and people don't have the income to fix or replace those vehicles. But yeah, that's also where you get a lot of the "gub'ment can take it from my cold dead hands" types of attitudes, even (especially?) when it's for the safety and well-being of people. Hell people fought restaurant smoking laws up until the early 2010's, and some states still have no helmet law for motorcycles.