Geographic location plays a vital role in determining political affiliation and voting patterns in the United States. Rural communities have patterns of strong place attachment and social conservatism, with party and political affiliation leaning conservatively and with Republican candidates (Gimpel & Reeves, 2024; Kaufman, 2021). While urban communities have greater diversity and lower rates of place attachment, with more radical social views causing them to lean Democratically with a more liberalist ideology (Gimpel & Reeves, 2024; Kaufman, 2021). Several factors such as diversity, demographics, place attachment and satisfaction, along with national identity further deepen the rural-urban divide.
American nation rhetoric further deepens this divide by representation on a national level within presidential campaigns, allowing candidates to divide voters geographically based on their personal representation of American identity (Woods et al., 2024). While there is economic and social push to work independently together as rural and urban communities, continuous tension grows as the two areas are framed as opposites.