Poll finds rural Americans favor McCain and are sharply divided on whether ethanol helps farming

"Republicans may find the rural race a bit closer than they might usually expect," Progressive Farmer magazine reports, outlining the results of a late-May poll of nearly 3,000 rural Americans. Among other findings: "Roads and bridges are in bad shape and need fixing in much of farm country, and "Rural crime and access to health care are big concerns out in the country." And, perhaps surprisingly, the poll found rural residents divided on whether the ethanol industry is good for farming.

The poll, taken by Zogby International, found 50 percent of rural residents for John McCain and 34 percent for Barack Obama, and leaning Republican in congressional races, 47 to 40. The margin of error was plus or minus 1.8 percentage points. The poll was taken May 23-27, as Obama was wrapping up the Democratic nomination.

The sample of 2,963 adults came mainly from Zogby's interactive online panel of adults who have agreed to take part in such surveys; 198 came from Progressive Farmer's subscription list. The sample was drawn from counties outsude metropolitan areas, rural census tracts in metro counties, and "a self-identified portion of participants who responded that they live in the 'country'," Zogby's report said. Nevertheless, 7 percent of those polled said they live in a large city and 11 percent said they live in a suburb. Sixteen percent said they live in a small city, and 67 percent said they live in a rural area. For a PDF of the report, click here.

The mixed findings on ethanol "could impact future growth for this product," Dan Miller writes. "Forty percent of those who answered this question say corn-based ethanol is bad for farming," while 37 percent said it is good for farming. "We suspect the latter group contains a good number of ranchers struggling with high feed costs." For the rest of Miller's story, which touches on many rural issues, click here.