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Brown Wins Massachusetts, But Dems Carry the Rural Vote
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The Republican, Scott Brown, won the election in Massachusetts Tuesday for the U.S. Senate on the strength of votes in suburban counties. Martha Coakley, the state's Attorney General and Democrat, won the counties that were both the most urban and the most rural.
In the five counties that had more than 20% of their population living in rural areas, Coakley won 64% of the vote. Those counties are Nantucket, Hampshire, Berkshire, Franklin and Dukes. In Dukes, the most rural county in the state, Coakley won by more than two to one.
Across the state, Brown won the seat to replace Sen. Ted Kennedy with 52 percent of the vote. He lost the rural vote, however, and he lost in the most urban counties.
Suffolk County, for example, has no rural population. Coakley won that county by the same margin as she won Dukes, the most rural county.
As counties grew more suburban, however, Brown's totals rose. In Worcester County, which has 19% of its population living in rural areas according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Brown won 61 percent of the vote.
Brown ran far better in the state's rural counties than did John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. McCain won only 25% of the vote in the five rural Massachusetts counties. Brown won 36% of the vote in these counties.
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Comments
Not really rural
Three of the five counties you cite in your "Dems carry rural vote" I would hardly consider rural as most people would define it. Two are very upper end islands (Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket) and a third is in the Springfield MSA (just north of the city). Springfield has the third highest population in the state. I've come to expect better from you in your reporting.
rural and election results
I agree with the last comment. Although Martha Coakley may have carried a couple of counties, I would not consider any of Massachusetts to be "rural." The real story is that "the majority of people" made their voices known. No matter what the political party, we are tired of the same old politics as usual. Nothing has changed with the current Obama administration (as he promised). The government is still trying to ram programs down our throat that we don't want.
What's rural
Not much of Mass is rural, that's for sure. Only two counties are non-metro, according to the Census: Dukes and Nantucket. Franklin County is exurban, according to our count.
To get to five counties, we included two that had more than 20% of their populations living in rural areas. Those are Berkshire and Hampshire.
So, you can take it or leave it. The point is that the five counties with the largest percent of people living in rural areas voted D.