Rhode Island: Islands vs. Inland
The "Trump line" persists.
Pres. Joe Biden won every single county in Rhode Island, flipping Kent County, a Democratic stronghold that flipped to Trump in 2016. Prior to 2016, the last time any county in the state supported a Republican candidate was in 1984 during Ronald Reagan’s reelection. While the county-level results remained consistent with historical trends, drilling down to the municipality-level results shows a much more compelling image of how geography shapes voter preferences.
Rhode Island’s municpality-level vote mirrors other New England states like Maine. Support for Donald Trump grows as you move further inland, creating a “Trump line” just miles from the coastline. Joe Biden succeeded in pushing this front further inland by flipping several landlocked townships like Lincoln, Richmond and West Warwick. Communities along the water in Rhode Island are slightly more diverse and educated than those inland. Conversely, inland towns in the state are much less densely populated and are historically conservative. Many of these voters parrotted the same greivances as voters in more rural states where Trump won by larger margins and even held their own “Trump Train” rallies like those in the South. While other New England states challenge the urban/rural divide, Rhode Island leans in.