Kerby Anderson
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett writes about “The Myth of Rural Rage,” arguing that red states and small towns are not full of hate. Her comments have a great deal of credibility since she is a university professor, and a lifelong liberal, who apparently has always voted for Democrats. She reads The New York Times and listens to NPR, but agrees with Uri Berliner, the liberal at NPR who expressed his concern about systemic liberal bias in its news reporting.
She tells the story of Craig (a retired person living in Iowa) to personalize the fact that the liberal media and liberal politicians have a false and biased view of rural America. She got to know him and many others when writing her book, The Overlooked Americans.
She refers to the General Social Survey that shows, even on politically charged issues, urban and rural Americans largely feel the same way. “Statistically, about half of both rural and urban Americans are religious, even if rural Americans are more likely to openly discuss their belief in God.”
She reminds us there have been shrill warnings that rural Americans are angry, vengeful, and ignorant. In his book (What’s the Matter with Kansas?) that I will mention again tomorrow, Frank Thomas portrayed rural America’s loyalty to the Republican Party as a form of “derangement.” The election of Donald Trump in 2016 led to countless essays in the liberal media about rural revenge.
She concludes by arguing that “our public intellectuals and leading media outlets have a duty to reset the conversation about rural America and take the time to find out the truth about the people who live there.” I appreciate her honesty and her sentiment, but I don’t see it happening soon.

Kerby Anderson
Michael Barone is a political analyst and best known as the principal author of The Almanac of American Politics. He has been writing about the disconnect between the left-leaning media and the typical American voter. He cites one writer for The Atlantic who argues that the Biden years have seen “the strongest economy the United States has ever experienced.” Her suggestion is that voters are not knowledgeable or sophisticated enough to understand how the economy is doing great.
His response is to point you to a pair of charts that were recently published in the Wall Street Journal. The two writers say the best way to compare two presidencies is to look at net worth. The first chart shows that net worth under Trump was a little better than under Biden.
The second chart then takes inflation into account. The red line (Trump) increases but has some dips along the way because of factors like the pandemic and lockdowns. The blue line (Biden) has a brief increase in net worth and then turns negative for the rest of his time in office.
Rebecca Downs also addresses the disconnect between the media and voters by citing an article in Axios. The article cites a Harris poll showing that more than half of Americans (56%) believe the US is in a recession and then confidently says they are all wrong.
It is true that according to the traditional definition, the country is not currently in a recession. But there is a reason why the latest polls show that most Americans (70%) say the cost of living is their biggest economic concern and why most (68%) also say inflation is an important issue.
Pundits and politicians can point to low unemployment and increasing wage growth. But the American people don’t feel these few positive economic indicators in their pocketbooks.