Why rural white Americans’ resentment is a threat to democracy

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Although there is no uniform definition of “rural,” and even federal agencies cannot agree on a single standard, roughly 20% of Americans live in rural communities, according to the Census Bureau’s definition.

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The ConversationThe Conversation
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https://theconversation.com/why-rural-white-americans-resentment-is-a-threat-to-democracy-224346https://theconversation.com/why-rural-white-americans-resentment-is-a-threat-to-democracy-224346
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Friday, April 5, 2024
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Tags: 
Certification, Pew Research Center, COVID-19 vaccine, Democracy, Congress, Marriage, Politics, QAnon, White, COVID-19, Xenophobia, Conspiracy theory, Bipartisan Policy Center, Cornell University, University, United, House, Electoral college, Census, Public Religion Research Institute, Security, Book, Government, Senate, Violence
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WHITE HOUSE, UNITED STATES
Summary
Key Points: 
  • Although there is no uniform definition of “rural,” and even federal agencies cannot agree on a single standard, roughly 20% of Americans live in rural communities, according to the Census Bureau’s definition.
  • The unfortunate fact is that polls suggest many rural white people’s commitment to the American political system is eroding.
  • Even when they are not members of militant organizations, rural white people, as a group, now pose four interconnected threats to the fate of the United States’ pluralist, constitutional democracy.
  • Although these do not apply to all rural white people, nor exclusively to them in general, when compared with other Americans, rural white people:


Let’s examine a few data points.

Xenophobia

  • That’s a lower proportion than urban and suburban dwellers and even nonwhite rural residents.
  • In addition, Cornell researchers found that rural whites reported feeling less comfortable with gay and lesbian people than urban whites do.

Conspiracism

  • Polls in 2020 and 2021 indicated that QAnon supporters are 1.5 times more likely to live in rural areas than urban ones, and 49% of rural residents – 10 points higher than the national average – believe a “deep state” undermines Trump.
  • Rural residents are also more likely than urban and suburban residents to believe the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, according to 2021 polling by the Public Religion Research Institute.

Antidemocratic beliefs

  • In addition, more than half of rural residents surveyed by the Public Religion Research Institute said being a Christian is important to “being truly American” – 10 percentage points more than in surburban or urban areas.
  • This is one of several signals that rural residents are disproportionately likely to support white Christian nationalism, an ideology that reaches beyond Christian ideas of faith and morality and into government.

Justification of violence

  • And 27% of Americans who say Trump should be returned to office even if “by force” are rural residents.
  • Those are minority views, but both proportions are significantly higher than the rural proportion of the overall population.


Thomas F. Schaller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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