I was wondering that, too! I totally agree with the part about small towns being more conservative (in fact, my reaction to the third paragraph of this story was, "Oh, they've finally figured that out? What took them so long?" LOL), but things are just not as simple as that.
I've lived in the Chicago suburbs for the past 22 years, and I can definitely attest that it's there's a lot of mix and overlap, between the more liberal views of the city and the extreme conservatism of the country. Some (though by no means all) of the closest in suburbs are also the most liberal, and as you get farther out, things do seem to gradually become redder and more conservative), but there's an amazing amount of overlap. For example, tThe congressional district I live in right now is as red as a boiled lobster--and yet when I drive around in my car, I still see the occasional Obama sticker (and I haven't seen a Romney one since last year). The district to the south and west of us is purple to blue and currently represented by a Democrat in Congress. And that's just the tip of this crazy, mixed up iceberg!
In short, I think it's misleadingly simplistic to talk in terms of an urban/rural dichotomy as though every locality and is one or the other. There are an awful lot of us here in the middle!
Metro Detroit is the same way. I have a teabagger wack-job as my congresscritter, but some of my friends in nearby suburbs have a fairly normal middle-of-the-road Democrat. And our county government is mixed as well. Some of them are die hard Republicans, but there are some Democrats as well, and we were one of the 4 counties in Michigan that opened their offices on Saturday so same-sex couples could get married.
I've lived in the Chicago suburbs for the past 22 years, and I can definitely attest that it's there's a lot of mix and overlap, between the more liberal views of the city and the extreme conservatism of the country. Some (though by no means all) of the closest in suburbs are also the most liberal, and as you get farther out, things do seem to gradually become redder and more conservative), but there's an amazing amount of overlap. For example, tThe congressional district I live in right now is as red as a boiled lobster--and yet when I drive around in my car, I still see the occasional Obama sticker (and I haven't seen a Romney one since last year). The district to the south and west of us is purple to blue and currently represented by a Democrat in Congress. And that's just the tip of this crazy, mixed up iceberg!
In short, I think it's misleadingly simplistic to talk in terms of an urban/rural dichotomy as though every locality and is one or the other. There are an awful lot of us here in the middle!
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