Since the election of Donald Trump, U.S. media outlets have often painted a picture of poverty-stricken rural voters, beaten down by economic misfortune, sending Trump to Washington in a Hail-Mary prayer for change.
But new research from the Urban Institute has found that only part of that equation is correct. While it’s true that Donald Trump was elected in large part by rural voters, most of those voters, as it turns out, are doing better financially than is commonly believed.
Among the 55 U.S. counties with the highest average credit scores, Trump won 51, while Clinton won just four. As a matter of fact, as CBS News reports, the economic life of rural citizens was found to be generally more stable than those living in cities. Given the relative financial security of Trump’s voter base, researchers believe that “race was an important predictor in this election.”