"This Technical report offers insights on how the spatial dimension of attitudes and political behaviour across Europe relates to the underlying socio-demographic and economic features. In investigating the existence and nature of a rural-urban divide, it aims to support the Commission’s activities towards a Communication on a Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas. This work builds upon the JRC Science for Policy report Immigration and trust in the EU. A territorial analysis of voting behaviour and attitudes (Scipioni, Tintori et al. 2019). It examines if and how a rural-urban divide may correlate and impact on Europeans' opinions and political choices, with specific reference to a series of issues considered to be particularly divisive in European public discourses in recent times. The study splits the analysis in two parts: one related to data on attitudes, the other on political behaviour. In the part based on survey data, it first looks at the 2018 Flash Eurobarometer on Regions and then, to gain a time perspective, it considers the Standard Eurobarometer series from 2003 to 2019. This section focuses on whether and how attitudes have shifted in rural versus urban areas towards the EU and national governments, as well as over immigration. The part on the political behaviour looks at the European Parliament elections of 2014 and 2019. The section first describes how the political offer of European parties has evolved between the two elections, in relation to the EU and immigration policies according to the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES). Then, it analyses how European voters, divided according to their residence in urban, rural or intermediate territories, cast their votes in both elections for parties coded according to their positions towards the EU and immigration. Overall, the empirical analysis detects some signs of a rural-urban divide in the political attitudes and behaviour of Europeans, but unevenly across various Member States and, importantly, their occurrence is issue-dependent. In addition, the observed geographic differences are less territorial in nature than a second-order manifestation of socio-demographic structural characteristics. The study thus contributes to the framework of the JRC work to provide scientific analyses to identify and understand socio-demographic drivers and implications of territorial disparities across the EU, with a view to support knowledge-based policy design and inform tailored measures."
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