It is also possible that people in rural areas tend to have less contact with the government in general - after all, most government activity takes place in the capital and other big cities.

And in absence of contact, people do not really have strong opinions. But once information arrives, things change.

Prior to mass media, few Americans would be strongly opinionated on the internal dealings of Washington D.C. Simply said, they never set their foot there and the distant federal government was not a major influence in their lives.

With the contemporary news cycle, Washington D.C. feels very close and familiar, even to me, a Czech residing an ocean away from it.