Digital divide narrows; fewer than 1/3 of rural adults in poll said government should get all connected in pandemic

"Rural Americans have made large gains in adopting digital technology over the past decade and have narrowed some digital gaps. However, rural adults remain less likely than suburban adults to have home broadband and less likely than urban adults to own a smartphone, tablet computer or traditional computer," reports Emily Vogels of the Pew Research Center, citing its latest polling on the topic.

"While broadband adoption has not significantly increased for urban and suburban Americans in the last five years, rural residents have seen a 9-percentage-point rise in home broadband adoption since 2016," Vogels reports, but "rural residents are still less likely than those living in suburban areas to report having home broadband," by 72% to 77%.

They are also less likely to have internet-connected devices, and less likely to have multiple devices, Vogels reports: "Three in 10 adults who live in rural communities report owning or having a desktop or laptop computer, a smartphone, a home broadband connection and a tablet computer, compared with 44% of urban and 43% of suburban adults."

Also, "Rural residents go online less frequently than their urban counterparts. Eight in 10 adults who live in rural communities say they use the internet on at least a daily basis, compared with roughly nine in 10 of those in urban areas (88%)."

While much of the talk about the digital divide has focused on what federal and state governments can do about it, "Only 29% of rural adults say the government has a responsibility to ensure that all Americans have a high-speed internet connection at home during the coronavirus outbreak," Vogels reports. "In comparison, 50% of urban residents and 35% of suburbanites say the same, according to previously unexplored data from an April 2020 Pew Research Center survey."