A Quinnipiac poll released on Sept. 16 revealed an interesting statistic: Rural voters may be more likely than urban voters to think they’ll be victims of a terrorist attack.
To be clear, the poll didn’t specifically say that, but it did find that 68 percent of Donald Trump supporters are somewhat or very concerned they’ll be the victim of a terrorist attack. Only 29 percent of Hillary Clinton supporters say the same.
Unsurprisingly, as most Republican presidential candidates do, Trump polls better in more rural states (Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, etc.). This analysis rests on the assumption that a disproportionate number of Trump voters from Quinnipiac’s national poll reside in rural areas.
Despite the concerns of rural Americans, city dwellers are the ones more likely to be victims of a terrorist attack: Think about New York City, Boston and Orlando, Fla. Even San Bernardino, Calif., and Washington, D.C., are cities with hundreds of thousands of people each. That’s not to say that terrorist attacks never happen in rural areas, just that urban areas are targeted more often.
So why the fear among rural residents? It could be that Trump and other conservative politicians have fueled their fears. On the flip side, Trump and others may just be responding to the fear they hear rural voters express.
Race and ethnicity could also be factors. Most Islamic terrorists are of Middle Eastern descent. As the proportion of whites in the country declines, the rural fear of terrorism might be a manifestation of fear of the unknown or the different. City dwellers, meanwhile, are more likely to encounter people of Middle Eastern descent in their daily lives as friends, co-workers or family members.
The other question is, why aren’t more urban voters worried about terrorist attacks?
Given that they’re more likely to be liberal, it could be that they listen to President Obama and consume liberal media, which tend to downplay the threat posed by Islamic terrorists.
It could also be that city residents have grown numb to terrorist threats. After so many years of heightened security in the post-Sept. 11 world, city dwellers may now be comfortable with the new normal.
This isn’t to say that rural voters have an unjustified fear of terrorism. Everyone in the country was heartbroken on Sept. 11, not just those who lost loved ones. But it is interesting to see that people in rural areas might be more worried that they will be victims of a terrorist attack.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
