‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Viewership Soars After J.D. Vance Gets Picked As Trump’s Running Mate

Audiences are revisiting the film adaptation of J.D. Vance‘s memoir Hillbilly Elegy after the author was named as former President Donald Trump’s running mate in the upcoming presidential election.

Viewership of the film on Netflix grew 1,180% to 19.2M minutes watched on July 15, according to data from Luminate. Compare that to the 1.5M minutes watched the day prior.

The film has a runtime just under two hours, so Monday’s data equates to roughly 9.5M viewers — much more than the 750,000 or so that tuned in on Sunday. Rumblings of Vance’s selection had already begun by Sunday, which also could have already sparked an upward trajectory for the film’s viewership prior to the official announcement, as well.

Hillbilly Elegy told of the decline of the white working class, and when it was published in the summer of 2016, it was held up by conservatives and liberals as shedding light on why such a large segment of the population felt alienated from society as his family history was one of struggle in a legacy of abuse, alcoholism and poverty.

Ron Howard adapted the book for the 2020 Netflix movie starring Glenn Close and Amy Adams. Close was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award for her performance.