The urban-rural gap in democratic attitudes: composition or deprivation?

Recent studies have drawn attention to the spatial nature of political culture in the US and Europe, which promotes polarisation and democratic vulnerability. This paper examines differences in residents' attitudes towards democracy between urban and rural areas. Regression analyses based on survey data from the European Social Survey (2020) show significant differences between urban and rural areas, especially in Western and Northern Europe. On average, people in rural areas are significantly more likely to favour a strong leader who is above the law and to rate democracy as less important. Two competing views are discussed and examined as possible explanations for these findings. The composition hypothesis suggests that differences between urban and rural areas are due to differences in the socio-demographic composition of rural and urban residents. The deprivation hypothesis suggests that a 'creative class' is emerging in urban areas, with significantly higher incomes, postmodern values and lifestyles, while citizens in less dynamic and rural areas feel disregarded by the political establishment and perceive the urban class as a cultural and political threat to their more traditional way of life, accompanied by a sense of grievance. The empirical results show that the composition effect does not adequately explain the differences between urban and rural areas. Even when controlling for gender, age, education, migration status, etc., the differences between urban and rural areas remain stable. Conversely, an unequal distribution of regional income (GDP at NUTS3 level) seems to act as a catalyst for the differences in democratic orientation between urban and rural areas. The greater the regional inequality in a country, the more likely it is that the inhabitants of rural areas will have anti-democratic attitudes. This result supports deprivation hypothesis. On average, rural regions suffer from economic and structural disadvantages compared to urban regions. This can lead to the inhabitants of rural regions experiencing socio-cultural disadvantages and social marginalisation, which is accompanied by less political support.