A new
Yale-led study found that the Covid-19 pandemic may have at least temporarily altered some historical anti-government attitudes that tend to be stronger in rural communities, particularly in the West.
In a representative survey of residents in rural counties of the U.S. West, a team of researchers, led by
Justin Farrell of the Yale School of the Environment (YSE), identified significant bipartisan support for a range of “big” government interventions to support rural recovery.
“We are only beginning to understand the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, but our new survey suggests that a realignment of political preferences is taking place,” said Farrell, an associate professor of sociology at YSE and lead researcher for the project. “If these patterns hold – and we’ll know more after our second wave of the survey with the same people in Spring 2021 – it will have far-reaching policy impacts.
He added: “The pandemic laid bare many of the long-standing problems facing rural communities, yet at the same time, the pandemic has created an opening – among rural residents – for large-scale social and economic reforms to strengthen the social safety net, improve well-being, and speed up our transition to clean energy.”
Among the key findings were:
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One third of residents in the rural West have had direct experience with COVID-19, either personally or through family, friends, or acquaintances
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One in five people who were employed full time last year became unemployed by the time of the survey
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While unemployment spiked for all people in the rural West, it was women and Latino/a residents who saw the largest increase in unemployment
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Latino/a residents received fewer benefits despite high unemployment levels
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There was strong bipartisan support for government relief spending on healthcare, housing, infrastructure, small business and direct payment to individuals
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Less than 15 percent of rural Westerners approve of how Congress has responded to the pandemic
The researchers also found that while Latino/a residents saw large increases in unemployment, their use of unemployment insurance was dramatically lower than non-Latino/a residents. By contrast, the largest increase in the use of unemployment benefits was for non-Latino-/a whites, where usage went from 2.6 percent to 14.3 percent.
The age group with the largest unemployment increase among all ethno-racial groups was the 30- to 39-year-old age group, which saw a rise from 6 percent pre-pandemic to 22 percent at the time of the survey.