If you watch just a few hours of cable TV, or scroll through the platform once known as Twitter, or maybe even peruse a nationally-focused print publication, you are likely to come away thinking that America is a deeply unhappy and divided country.But what if that’s not really the case?
WSJ.com
These Counties Will Give Clues to the Final Result
A person walks past a polling place in Marietta, Georgia, on Tuesday.Erik S. Lesser/EPA/Shutterstock
To understand why Tuesday’s runoff elections in Georgia are so competitive, look no further than the state’s three most populous counties.
Only six years ago, when Republican Sen. David Perdue ran for office the first time, he carried one-third of the vote in
Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta. And he won the two biggest suburban counties next to the city, taking 55% in
Cobb County and 54% in
Gwinnett.
Tonight’s results are likely to tell a different story one of a state that, like much of the rest of the nation, features political tensions between urban centers increasingly dominated by Democrats and rural areas that have grown more solidly Republican.
The Role of Rural Communities of Color in the 2020 Election
By Olugbenga Ajilore
Download the PDF here.
Vast swaths of the media have a limited view of what constitutes rural America. There is a general stereotype of these regions households who are white, low income, and employed in the agricultural industry.
1 This perception was evident in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s surprise win in the 2016 election, when journalists went to places to speak with whom they believed were rural residents.
2 The stories were so prevalent that many were given the term “Rust Belt Diner” journalism.
3 This misconception was also evident in the coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in rural communities, where headlines did not include in their descriptions of rural America the various rural communities of color who have been harmed.