Presidential election highlights growing rural-urban gap among Republicans and Democrats

The rural/urban gap widened in this year's presidential election among Republican and Democratic voters, Bill Bishop and Tim Marema report for the Daily Yonder. Republican president-elect Donald Trump won 65.9 percent of rural votes on Tuesday, compared to 60.4 percent for Mitt Romney in 2012. Hillary Clinton won 29.4 percent of the rural Democratic votes this year, compared to 37.7 percent for President Obama in 2012. (Yonder graphics)

In micropolitan areas, which have a city of at least 10,000 but none with more than 50,000 residents, Trump won 61.8 percent of the rural vote, compared to 57.7 percent for Romney in 2012, Bishop and Marema write. Clinton won 33 percent of the votes among rural micropolitan residents, compared to 40.5 percent for Obama in 2012.