New Books in Political Science Suzanne Mettler and Trevor E. Brown, "Rural Versus Urban: The Growing Divide That Threatens Democracy" (Princeton UP, 2025)
Mar 14, 2026
Trevor E. Brown, a postdoctoral scholar and co-author of Rural Versus Urban, studies polarization, place-based inequality, and political organization. He traces how a growing rural–urban divide developed over decades. Short segments tackle sequential polarization, the role of local organizations, institutional consequences for democracy, and whether repair through local political organizing is possible.
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Authors Rooted The Study In Personal Experience
- The project grew from the authors' rural backgrounds and observations of political change.
- Trevor Brown grew up near Springfield, Ohio, and he and Suzanne Mettler began the work while he was a Cornell grad student.
Rural Urban Voting Realigned Since The 1990s
- Rural and urban voting aligned through the 1980s but diverged sharply from the 1990s onward.
- By 2024 county-level presidential vote differences reached ~20 points as Democrats clustered in large metros and rural areas shifted Republican.
Sequential Polarization Explains The Process
- Sequential polarization describes a multi-step process where place-based economic decline precedes cultural activation and organizational mobilization.
- Job and population loss in rural areas (post-1980s) pushed voters toward Republicans, then churches and conservative groups cemented the shift.
