Some pundits paint rural America with broad brush

NCPR’s Jonathan Brown writes:

In post-election analysis of voting trends, a lot of pundits are taking a second look at rural America. And the results aren’t always pretty. In the Sunday New York Times, columnist Frank Rich wrote:

Those occasional counties that tilted more Republican tended to be not only the least diverse, but also the most rural, least educated and slowest-growing in population.

If Rich’s tone sounds superior, that’s because it is. He’s using the term “rural” as a broad brush to paint regions like the North Country (and the Appalachians, the South and large swaths of Middle America and the Rocky mountain West as a monolithic voting bloc).

The thrust of Rich’s column is neatly summed up by the pull quote in the Times print edition: “America’s all-white party is still in denial.”

(Here’s the link to his column. Even a cursory look at returns in the North Country shows the region doesn’t fit the picture he paints.

Here’s a (very) cursory look at a few counties (percentages of votes for Obama and mcCain only):
St Lawrence: Obama, 56%; mcCain, 41%
Jefferson: O, 46%; m, 53%
Clinton: O, 61%, m, 38%
Essex: O, 56%, m, 42%
Franklin: O, 60%, m, 39%

Still, Frank Rich’s column raises a question worth asking here: Did race affect North Country voters? How? Let us know what you think (click the “Comment” link at the lower right of this posting) and listen this week as Brian mann talks with J.W. Wiley, an African-American scholar and consultant who lives in the North Country and focuses on racial issues.

The interview is part of our on-going Fresh Start series, a look at big ideas and big challenges facing President-elect Obama.