The Rural-Urban Continuum of Polarization: Understanding the Geography of the 2018 Midterms

The Forum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth M. Johnson ◽  
Dante J. Scala
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rural America ◽  
Rural Regions ◽  
Urban America ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
The Continuum

Abstract This study of the 2018 congressional midterms demonstrates how voting patterns and political attitudes vary across a spectrum of urban and rural areas in the United States. Rural America is no more a monolith than is urban America. The rural-urban gradient is better represented by a continuum than a dichotomy. This is evident in the voting results in 2018, just as it was in 2016. We found that the political tipping point lies beyond major metropolitan areas, in the suburban counties of smaller metropolitan areas. Democrats enjoyed even greater success in densely populated urban areas in 2018 than in 2016. Residents of these urban areas display distinctive and consistent social and political attitudes across a range of scales. At the other end of the continuum in remote rural areas, Republican candidates continued to command voter support despite the challenging national political environment. Voters in these rural regions expressed social and political attitudes diametrically opposed to their counterparts in large urban cores.

scholarly journals Demographic and Disease Characteristics of People With Multiple Sclerosis Living in Urban and Rural Areas

2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 89-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Buchanan ◽  
Randolph Schiffer ◽  
Alexa Stuifbergen ◽  
Li Zhu ◽  
Suojin Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
Disease Characteristics ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Disease Modifying ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

This study compares demographic and disease-related characteristics of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) living in urban and rural areas. The data analyzed for this study were collected from a survey of 1518 people with MS living throughout the United States from October 2004 through January 2005. We found significant urban-rural differences in various MS characteristics, including type of MS. A significantly larger proportion of people with MS in remote rural areas than their urban counterparts responded that they had primary progressive MS. People with MS in rural areas were significantly more likely than those in urban areas to report that MS symptoms interfered with their independence. A significantly larger proportion of people with MS in remote rural areas than in urban areas were not receiving disease-modifying medications. Our results suggest that MS disease expression varies across urban-rural gradients. Although the findings are not definitive, we hope that other investigative groups will build on these results and work toward confirming and understanding them.

Deplorable or Disposable? The Carceral State and ‘Breaking Bad’ in Rural America

2021 ◽  
pp. 94-132
Author(s):  
Marie Gottschalk
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Carceral State ◽  
Breaking Bad ◽  
The Us ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Racial Ethnic

This chapter examines the limitations of viewing the US carceral state primarily through a racial disparities lens centred on differences in incarceration rates between whites and blacks. It surveys important shifts since the 1970s in who is being incarcerated in the United States, including racial, ethnic, gender, and geographic shifts, most notably between urban and rural areas. It deploys three common frameworks used to help explain the rise of mass incarceration and the hyper-incarceration of African Americans—the culture of control, the culture of poverty, and the war on drugs—to analyse the deepening penetration of the carceral state outside of major urban areas and to examine the opioid crisis.

scholarly journals An Examination of the Employment Recovery in the United States in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 170-175
Author(s):  
David C. Wyld
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
The United States ◽  
Labor Statistics ◽  
Government Data ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Bureau Of Labor Statistics ◽  
The U.S

The “shock” of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic set about wholesale changes across American life, impacting the way we socialized, shopped, and yes, worked. There were significant disruptions across the business landscape in the United States, accompanied by significant job losses, starting in March 2020. In this article, we examine the size and scope of the changes in employment that took place in the U.S. at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and during the recovery period up through April 2021. Utilizing official government data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the author examines how the pandemic caused both widespread job losses and record-setting levels of unemployment but had differential effects across a variety of industries. Then, the author looks at the recovery period, examining the recovery in employment has been unequally distributed across the United States, with differentiations between both urban and rural areas and between metropolitan areas across the county. The article concludes with a look at what this means for the future of work and for management moving forward - hopefully - into the post-pandemic period.

scholarly journals Toward a Development Policy for Rural America

1988 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul W. Barkley
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Development Policy ◽  
Rural America ◽  
Land Area ◽  
Rural Regions ◽  
Urban America

Rural America can only be defined as non-urban America. It includes nearly all of America's land area and is home for over one-fourth of the nation's people. Although some rural areas are very prosperous and even in the not-so-prosperous regions, some individuals and families have succeeded in their economic endeavors, there seems always to have been an inordinate amount of poverty and a slow erosion of opportunity-generating activity in many or, more likely, most rural regions.

scholarly journals The Energy Situation in Central Asia: A Comprehensive Energy Review Focusing on Rural Areas

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 2805
Author(s):  
Kedar Mehta ◽  
Mathias Ehrenwirth ◽  
Christoph Trinkl ◽  
Wilfried Zörner ◽  
Rick Greenough
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Residential Energy ◽  
Rural Regions ◽  
Available Energy ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

The northern part of the globe is dominated by industrialisation and is well-developed. For many years, the southern part of the world (South Asia, Africa etc.) has been a target of research concentrating on access to energy (mainly electricity) in rural regions. However, the Central Asian region has not been a focus of energy research compared to South East Asia and Africa. Despite plentiful domestically available energy resources, the energy supply in Central Asia is very unevenly distributed between urban and rural areas. Almost half of the total population of Central Asia lives in rural areas and there is a lack of access to modern energy services to meet primary needs. To analyse the energy situation (i.e., electricity, heating, hot water consumption, cooking, etc.) in rural Central Asia, this paper reviews residential energy consumption trends in rural Central Asian regions as compared to urban areas. Furthermore, the paper illustrates the potential of renewable energies in Central Asia. To perform the study, a qualitative comparative analysis was conducted based on a literature review, data, and statistical information. In summary, the presented article discusses the rural energy situation analytically and provides in-depth insights of Central Asian energy infrastructure.

Long-Term Trends in Rural and Urban Poverty: New Insights Using a Historical Supplemental Poverty Measure

2017 ◽  
Vol 672 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura B. Nolan ◽  
Jane Waldfogel ◽  
Christopher Wimer
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Poverty ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
The United States ◽  
Poverty Measure ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Urban America ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Dramatic Decline

Poverty has a strong relationship to geography in the United States. Previous research has found that rural areas have higher average poverty rates than urban areas, but the new supplemental poverty measure (SPM) has shown in recent years that urban areas have higher average poverty. In this article, we analyze poverty trends from 1967 to 2014 in rural and urban America, using the improved SPM metrics. We find a dramatic decline in poverty in rural areas, and also show that the geographic adjustment of the poverty threshold in the SPM (which lowers poverty thresholds in less expensive areas and raises them in more expensive areas) is an important explanatory factor. We also find that changes in the demographic and economic characteristics of rural and urban residents help to explain the decline. Last, we investigate whether migration of the poor between rural and urban areas helps to account for differential poverty trends, but we find little evidence in support of that hypothesis.

Political Polarization along the Rural-Urban Continuum? The Geography of the Presidential Vote, 2000–2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 672 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dante J. Scala ◽  
Kenneth M. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Spatial Regression ◽  
The United States ◽  
Geographic Region ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Urban Rural

This article documents the diversity of political attitudes and voting patterns along the urban-rural continuum of the United States. We find that America’s rural and urban interface, in terms of political attitudes and voting patterns, is just beyond the outer edges of large urban areas and through the suburban counties of smaller metropolitan areas. Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton performed well in densely populated areas on the urban side of the interface, but they faced increasingly difficult political climates and sharply diminished voter support on the rural side of the interface. The reduction in support for Clinton in 2016 in rural areas was particularly pronounced. Even after controlling for demographic, social, and economic factors (including geographic region, education, income, age, race, and religious affiliation) in a spatial regression, we find that a county’s position in the urban-rural continuum remained statistically significant in the estimation of voting patterns in presidential elections.

scholarly journals Patterns of Alcohol Consumption in the PURE Poland Cohort Study and Their Relationship with Health Problems

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 4185
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Zatońska ◽  
Piotr Psikus ◽  
Alicja Basiak-Rasała ◽  
Zuzanna Stępnicka ◽  
Maria Wołyniec ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Study ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Frequent Consumption ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Socio Demographic Factors ◽  
High Level

(1) Background: Alcohol is a leading risk factor of premature morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to investigate the patterns of alcohol consumption in the PURE Poland cohort study baseline. (2) Methods: A Polish cohort was enrolled in the baseline study in 2007–2010. The study group consisted of 2021 adult participants of urban and rural areas from the Lower Silesia voivodeship in Poland (747 men and 1274 women). (3) Results: In the overall study population, 67.3% were current drinkers, 10.3% were former drinkers, and 22.4% were abstainers. Current use of alcohol products was more prevalent in men (77.2%), people living in urban areas (73.0%), and people with a higher level of education (78.0%). The percentage of current drinkers decreased with increasing age (from 73.4% in 30- to 44-year-olds to 48.8% in participants aged 64 and more). The majority of participants (89.2%) declared a low level of alcohol intake. The chance of high level of intake of alcohol was four times higher in men than in women (OR 4.17; CI 1.64–10.6). The majority of participants (54.6%) declared most frequent consumption of low-alcohol drinks (beer, wine) and 21% declared most frequent consumption of spirits. Current drinkers had almost 1.5-fold higher odds of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) than never drinkers (OR 1.49, CI 1.03–2.17; OR 1.66, CI 1.27–2.18, respectively). Former drinkers had higher odds for hypertension and CVD than never drinkers (1.73, CI 1.05–2.85; OR 1.76, CI 1.22–2.53, respectively). (4) Conclusions: In our cohort study, we observed several socio-demographic factors differentiating the patterns of alcohol consumption. The preventive programs should focus predominantly on men, people aged <45 years, and those with a higher level of education.

scholarly journals PM2.5 polluters disproportionately and systemically affect people of color in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (18) ◽  
pp. eabf4491
Author(s):  
Christopher W. Tessum ◽  
David A. Paolella ◽  
Sarah E. Chambliss ◽  
Joshua S. Apte ◽  
Jason D. Hill ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Emission Sources ◽  
Particulate Air Pollution ◽  
Fine Particulate ◽  
Exposure Levels ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Racial-ethnic minorities in the United States are exposed to disproportionately high levels of ambient fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5), the largest environmental cause of human mortality. However, it is unknown which emission sources drive this disparity and whether differences exist by emission sector, geography, or demographics. Quantifying the PM2.5 exposure caused by each emitter type, we show that nearly all major emission categories—consistently across states, urban and rural areas, income levels, and exposure levels—contribute to the systemic PM2.5 exposure disparity experienced by people of color. We identify the most inequitable emission source types by state and city, thereby highlighting potential opportunities for addressing this persistent environmental inequity.

scholarly journals Breastfeeding practice in China from 2013 to 2018: a study from a national dynamic follow-up surveillance

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leni Kang ◽  
Juan Liang ◽  
Chunhua He ◽  
Lei Miao ◽  
Xiaohong Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Child Nutrition ◽  
Central Area ◽  
Mother And Child ◽  
Physical And Psychological Health ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Log Linear ◽  
Breastfeeding Practice

Abstract Background Breastfeeding is important for the physical and psychological health of the mother and child. Basic data on breastfeeding practice in China are out-of-date and vary widely. This study aimed to evaluate the progress of breastfeeding practice in China, as well as to explore the bottlenecks in driving better practice. Methods This was an observational study. We used data from the Under-5 Child Nutrition and Health Surveillance System in China for the period 2013–2018. The prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding (EIBF) and exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) were calculated for each year for subgroups of China. The Cochran-Armitage test was used to explore the time trends. The annual percent of change (APC) were calculated by log-linear regression followed by exp transformation. Results The prevalence of EIBF increased significantly from 44.57% (95% CI: 44.07, 45.07) in 2013 to 55.84% (95% CI: 55.29, 56.38) in 2018 (Ptrend < 0.001), with an APC of 4.67% (95% CI: 3.51, 5.85). And the prevalence of EBF increased rapidly from 16.14% (95% CI: 15.10, 17.18) to 34.90% (95% CI: 33.54, 36.26) (Ptrend < 0.001), with an APC of 14.90% (95% CI: 9.97, 20.04). Increases were observed in both urban and rural areas, with urban areas showing greater APCs for EIBF (6.05%; 95% CI: 4.22, 7.92 v.s. 2.26%; 95% CI: 1.40, 3.12) and EBF (18.21%; 95% CI: 11.53, 25.29 v.s. 9.43%; 95% CI: 5.52, 13.49). The highest EBF prevalence was observed in the East, but the Central area showed the highest APC. The prevalence of EBF decreased with increasing age within the first 6 months, especially after 3 months. Conclusion The prevalence of both EIBF and EBF in China are improving in recent years. The rural and West China could be the key areas in the future actions. More efforts should be made to protect and promote breastfeeding to achieve near- and long-term goals for child health.

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