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Ryan Streeter /

Metro Cons

America’s ‘urban-rural divide’ is more fiction than fact.
Sunrise in New York City
New York skyline. (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images.)

After every election, we are reminded that Republicans don’t do well in urban areas, but we rarely ask whether conservatism itself fares as badly.  

In the recent midterms, exit polls showed a shrinking Democratic urban advantage, GOP governors grew their vote share in their most populous cities, and metro area voters from New York to Florida were surprisingly friendly to Republicans.

Ryan Streeter is the director of domestic policy at the American Enterprise Institute.

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