Small towns would like to be excluded from the rural narrative

Plus: Ohio smackdown, RFK the Republican, Britain vs. Mississippi, LLMs explained

No. 280 | August 11, 2023

First… some personal news! The Intersection’s weekly roundup returns after a brief hiatus following the arrival of our baby boy two weeks ago. We’re beyond blessed that he’s here and healthy. -Patrick

🗳️ Elections

Kati Perry, Tim Meko and Kevin Uhrmacher: Small towns don’t vote like other rural areas (The Washington Post)

Every four years, presidential election maps offer a familiar visual: The sea of Republican red across rural America dotted with blue population centers that overwhelmingly vote for Democrats. Election maps are notoriously bad at conveying the outcome of an election because of the uneven distribution of people across the land. Even county-level maps mask voting patterns in small-town America.

‘When you get out into rural America, it’s actually a lot more heterogeneous than people imagine it to be,’; said Jonathan Rodden, political scientist and author of the book ‘Why Cities Lose: The Deep Roots of the Urban-Rural Political Divide.’ A Washington…