http://www.citylab.com; May 22, 2018
Hello Everyone:
It is a lovely Monday afternoon and a new week on the blog. Before we get going on today's subject--the urban rural divide--some news items. First, if you live in California tomorrow is Primary Election Day. California fans and followers you know what to do. Second, what happened to First Lady Melania Trump? Ms. Trump went in for surgery in mid-May to correct a bengin kidney condition, returning to the White House a week later. Since then, FLOTUS has not been seen in public. Around the Galaxy--i.e. the Internet--speculation has gone into overdrive. Speaking of Trumps, by now we have all read the latest tweet from Mr. Donald J. Trump proclaiming that he can pardon himself. Well, that is not exactly true. Yes, the president can pardon individuals who were convicted for felony offenses but he cannot use his power to pre-emptively pardon himself or anyone else. No person, including the president, is above the law. Mr. Trump cannot pardon his way out of any potential impeachment proceedings, period, end of sentence. Shall we move on?
It has been 500 days since Mr. Trump was elected president (really), and one of the main reasons cited for his election is the "rural-urban divide" (nymag.com; Apr. 18, 2017; date accessed June 4, 2018). However, new research from Pew Social Trends presents a different take on the rural-urban divide.
Tanvi Misra writes in her CityLab article "Rural and Urban America Have More in Common Than You Think," "... discussions often simplify the realities of America's rural areas (citylab.com; Dec. 8, 2016; date accessed June 4, 2018), cities (Ibid; Nov. 7, 2016), and suburbs (Ibid; July 6, 2017), reducing these communities to monoliths with few overlapping experiences or attitudes." The conclusion of a new survey, What Unites and Divides Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities (pewsocialtrends.org; May 22, 2018; date accessed June 4, 2018), throws a spanner into this narrative--"showing that while rural, urban, and suburban communities have unique problems, they have surprising, perhaps often overlooked, similarities."
Kim Parker, the director of Social Trends Research at Pew, told CityLab,
Yes, there are deep divides,.... But when it comes to the basic issues of life, there's a lot that Americans across communities agree on.
Surprised? Let us take a look.
"There are more similarities than we may have believed"
The main takeaway from the survey is the way various American communities perceive themselves, their connection to their homes, and their most pressing problems is quite similar. Here are some of the highlights:
"Rural and urban American face some of the same local concerns"
In recent years, the opioid epidemic has exploded, leveling a number of white rural communities (wamu.org; Mar. 4, 2018; date accessed June 4, 2018). However, the data shows that urban, African American communities have experienced the greatest increases in overdose deaths (washingtonpost; Mar. 2, 2018; date accessed June 4, 2018). Ms. Misra reports, "This epidemic is a shared challenge, and in the findings of the Pew survey demonstrate that." The Pew survey says, "similar share of rural (50 percent) and urban (46 percent) respondents report drug addicition being one of the biggest problems facing their communities."
"Everyone pretty much agrees rural areas could use more help"
Reality check: the only time anyone pays attention to the rural areas is during an election cycle, like now. It sounds cynical but it is true. The Pew survey found "...71 percent or rural residents believe they get the short end of the stick as far as federal aid is concerned..., surprisingly, significant shares of suburban (61 percent) and urban residents (57 percent) agreed."
On the other hand, less than half of urban dwellers said "city residents received less than they deserve from the federal government; and only about a third of suburban and rural respondents."
"They have similarly iffy connections to home"
The Pew survey found that "one in seven Americans reports feeling strong attachment to their local community, and that share is the same across cities, suburbs, an rural communities."
"No on actually talks to their neighbors"
Apparently not knowing your neighbor is not just a Los Angeles thing. It seems that rural dwellers are not as a neighborly as you might have been led to believe. The Pew survey found "while it's true that rural residents are more likely than urban ones to know who their neighbors are, they aren't really more likely to chat them up."
"Both rural and urban communities feel misunderstood"
Urban and rural residents feel that they are negatively perceived by outsiders. However, suburbanites enjoy more positive image from outsiders.
"Rural and urban residents both agree ... that they agree"
Agree to disagree, a very American thing. Tanvi Misra writes, "When it comes to what they disagree on, rural and urban Americans are roughly on the some page. Around 60 percent of rural respondents say that their values do align with the urban residents, and 53 percent or urban ones feel the dame of their rural counterparts."
"The differences between rural and urban American are demographic and political--not necessarily economic"
American demographics are changing and that change is manifesting differently across the nation. "Cities, overall, now contain a majority of residents of color (56 percent)." Suburban communities have grown the most primarily due to immigration (brookings.edu; Oct. 29, 2014; date accessed June 4, 2018) and domestic migration. Suburbia is also diversifying: "It's share of white residents has fallen by eight percentage (pewsocialtrends.org; May 15, 2018; date accessed June 4, 2018) points since 2000." Rural counties remain predominantly Cauasian and are aging--"increasing in numbers of older adults 65 years." "... across the board--rural, suburban, urban--immigrants are making up more and more of the population. In rural areas, they made up 37 percent of the population growth since 2000."
Changing demographics also shape some of the divergent political and social outlooks of these different places. According to the Pew survey, "It probably doesn't surprise anyone,... urban residents value diversity much more than rural ones. About 70 percent of urban dwellers say this is important, compared to only about half of rural ones."
One fact that should not surprise anyone, "Urban America leans heavily Democrat and rural areas are heavily Republican." Political ideology also forms opinion to a certain degree. Therefore, when researchers controlled for party affiliations, some of the differences fall away. For example, opinions on abortion within the same party does not change according to where a person lives.
Other opinions change based on where a person lives. "Republicans differ by geography on same-sex marriage and views on Donald Trump, with urban ones leaning a bit more towards Democrats." Urban and suburban Democrats are more inclined to say that greater immigration strengthens the country than threatens (75 and 81 percent respectively) than their rural counterparts (61 percent).
Popular thinking that the difference in views stems from economic anxiety in smaller, more rural towns has been seriously challenged (theatlantic.com; Nov. 20, 2017; date accessed June 4, 2018) in the wake of the election. Economically, the picture is more complicated. Tanvi Misra writes, "It's true that trual populations have the lowest earnings--but they're also living in the cheapest areas across the country. And in terms of poverty, it's actually the suburbs that have seen the steepest increases: 51 percent since 2000, compared to 31 percent in urban and 23 percent in rural areas."
Regardless, the concept of relative hardship may still persist in these communities, but new research "suggests that perhaps anti-immigrant sentiment and support for Trump are ties to factors beyond pure economics: They may have more to do with lack of exposure to diversity (citylab.com; Nov. 2, 201; date accessed June 4, 2018) and fear of lost status because of the changing face of the country (Ibid)."
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