I received the following press release (see below) from Anthony Flaccovento (“a farmer and rural development consultant from Abingdon, Virginia” and “the Democratic candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 9th District in 2018”), about (as he says) “a just-released study, by Dr Nick Jacobs [author of The Rural Voter], showing how ongoing, concrete, non-political work in rural communities begins to moderate partisan feelings and change perspectives on the political parties. It is an analysis of the impacts of two years of our Community Works initiative in rural counties in Virginia and Georgia. The VA counties included Scott, Wythe, Grayson and Paige.” Personally, I think efforts like these are worth trying, although I remain highly skeptical that they’ll ever be at sufficient scale to counter the noxious, relentless impacts of 24/7 right-wing echo chambers and media, the sharp decline in local news reporting, harmful social media algorithms (that, among other thing, reward anger and right-wing content while suppressing pro-democracy, pro-Democratic content), etc, etc. Also, I definitely don’t consider the problem to be generic “partisan polarization” – and certainly not symmetrical polarization – but instead the far-right radicalization of the Republican Party, along with their demonization of Democrats, liberals, people of color, immigrants, science, higher education, etc, etc. Having said that, I think that the study described below is interesting, and I’m curious what people think of it.
For Immediate Release: Study: Concrete Local Work Moderates Partisanship Among Rural Residents
Date of Release: May 4th, 2026
Contacts: Meredith Dean; Professor Nick Jacobs; or Anthony Flaccavento
In a time of widespread partisan animosity across much of the United States, a just-released study of the Community Works initiative demonstrates that sustained, concrete, non-political work in rural communities reduces the intensity of partisan polarization when compared with similar “control counties.” The study was designed and overseen by Professor Nick Jacobs, a social scientist at Colby College, and the co-author of The Rural Voter. The analysis considered four rural counties in Virginia and two in Georgia with Community Works chapters, comparing them to comparable neighboring counties that had no chapters. Before and after surveys were conducted in these counties, designed by Dr Jacobs, to assess the perceptions and feelings of rural residents about politics and the political parties.
The study period included two years of Community Works activities in Virginia and one year in Georgia.
Community Works, a program of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, helps liberals and Democrats living in rural areas to work side by side with their neighbors to solve local problems. The program is growing, with chapters now active in seven states.
The study’s findings were clear. According to Dr Jacobs, “Across six counties within two states and across multiple outcome measures, Community Works consistently reduces the intensity of partisan polarization.” The clarity of the findings after such a relatively short period of time surprised both the study’s author and the leaders of the Community Works Initiative. According to Meredith Dean, National Director of Community Works, “We knew from experience on the ground that CWorks was shifting attitudes and increasing trust. But honestly, we didn’t expect that this would be statistically validated so soon.”
To learn more about the Community Works program and Dr Jacob’s study, contact Meredith Dean at meredith@ruralurbanbridge.org, Professor Nick Jacobs at jacobsnf@gmail.com or view this recording of a May 6th briefing about the study.
