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More Rural Americans Call Themselves Pro-American

Arts and Culture | Religion and Faith
10/23/2008
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elks hall upstate new york
Since vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin raised the issue of "real America," at a Greensboro, N.C., fundraiser last week, the calf muscles of many candidates have been strained -- there's been mad pedalling away from, around, and straight to the heart of what constitutes patriotism.

Palin told the crowd, "We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America."

Leaving aside whether Greensboro is a small town, James Gimpel of the University of Maryland, supports Palin's claim. In the National Review, Gimpel points to the greater proportion of rural Americans serving in the military and also cites research from the University of Michigan. Its American National Election Study (2004) surveyed Americans directly on "love of your country" and the importance of "being an American."

Nearly 3/4ths of respondents from counties of fewer than 25,000 people said their love of country was extremely strong, "compared to only half of those in counties with more than 300,000 inhabitants....And over two-thirds of respondents from small counties reported that it is "extremely important" to be American, compared to about half of big-city folk."

Comments

2 November 2008 - 1:34pm — CynD

Proud to be an American

I've recently moved from the central valley of Ca to southern MS. I did not realize how big the change would be in just being able to communicate the basic love of country to people I meet in the Wal-Mart and local Post Office. I"m not odd here! I"m not a "flag waver", I am not that poor, proud millitary Mom with kids in the armed forces. I'm a normal God loving, country loving individual here...yeah! There really is a bigger, better foundation here than what can be seen in some areas such as my home State of California. A better way of life. It's helped me to take off the jaded glasses of one of the "extreme coastal" life and realize that there still are Americans who still love their country-poor, middle class, white, black, brown,vietnamese, chinese, and russian Americans who are proud to wave the Flag in a parade and sing the National Anthem.
Daily Yonder | Keep It Rural
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