In most other types of counties across the U.S., Trump’s job approval is net negative, with the strongest pockets of disapproval coming from the nation’s biggest cities and the dense urban suburbs around them.
While poll data consistently show the president earning well-short of majority job approval nationally, the community-level picture is more nuanced. Trump faces stiff opposition in some places, but in others he continues to be evaluated more positively than negatively.
The list has a fairly clear demographic underpinning.
The counties that support Trump are numerically extensive, but tend to be much more rural. Taken together, the 1,349 counties that make up his strongest base of support — Rural Middle America, Evangelical Hubs, Working Class Country and LDS Enclaves — are home to about 35 million potential voters. By themselves, the 47 Big Cities counties hold about 59 million.
Trump’s base counties also tend to have median household incomes below the national figure of about $56,000.
The counties in which Trump faces his strongest opposition are generally the most densely populated places in the country, including the Big Cities and Urban Suburbs. These counties, […]
Living in a rural PNW Island community with many friends who are liberal, and what I believed was a small contingent of fundamentalists, we had a rude awakening this last week. I learned that a young man who is gay and has always attended The Methodist Church from his early childhood set fire to the minister’s Church. We were all stunned, but that shows how closely one can live (the community is very very small relative to other towns.) Then the real story unraveled. B., the gay youth, had been persecuted and ridiculed for his sexual tendencies. He wasn’t a runaway, taking drugs or on the street. And as the minister continued to hammer at him, it seems that relatively few stepped up to protest. To speak out what many profess is the foundation of Christianity – love they brother. Forgive others. Judge not, lest ye be judged. I understand that there are those who feel very uncomfortable with gays, but I cringe when those feelings in a congregation regress to what churches were when they burned witches and accused and then tortured ‘non conformists.’ My heart aches for this young who was tormented, made to feel guilty, less than.. and particularly in the light of what sound research shows: fundamentalism often makes the headlines like the ones on SR today.. rape, abuse and molestation. I grew up in a home where a constant religious war was taking place. Forced to attend two different churches; one at 5 am, and the other at 9am. Cousins that locked me in room with them when I was around 6-7, telling me I was going to burn in hell, explicitly describing the flames, the heat. Why? Because my mother and father weren’t married in the eyes of the church. (They were married at City Hall). I had nightmares for a long time after hearing about my future burn! And it’s no wonder that so many young people are moving away from these kinds of churches. It’s sad that this young man had a family and a minister who constantly told him how worthless he was.