Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Reilly, Jack

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing focus on the differences between rural and urban individuals in the United States. This seems to have left many observers with the impression that political scientists are well informed with regard to the role of place in political affairs. The most cursory review of the literature confirms that this is absolutely not the case. While urban politics has received considerable attention over the years, no one—certainly no contemporary author—has offered a detailed investigation of rural political behavior. We attempt to fill that gap by synthesizing previous work, crafting appropriate measures, and modeling political behaviors as a function of how individuals are arranged in space. We find clear and convincing evidence that rural Americans are more politically active than their urban counterparts: they are more likely to vote, plant a yard sign, attend a local political meeting, and donate money to candidates and campaigns.

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