City vs small town vs rural — always enough disinformation and distrust to go around, no doubt about that.
One of my very first recollections of politics was around age 13 in Ithaca (1964) when I overheard the adults endlessly complaining about taxes and how Albany bled everybody dry to pay for NYC!
Dad’s close friend had an address sign on his mailbox on Texas Lane. He swapped two letters around and made the mailbox read “Taxes Lane.” I very proudly told him that he made a typo on his mailbox; all the adults then had a good laugh at my young and innocent naiveté! They all explained how I would understand when I got older. Being a Californian since 1973, I sure did learn that lesson well.
Ithaca is now a hotbed of liberalism, similar to a Newton MA or so many other leftist places.