Rural decline and satisfaction with democracy.

With the recent rise of populism in the developed world, the division between large cities and rural areas is in the spotlight as never before. This article explores the effect of the urban–rural divide on satisfaction with democracy in 27 European countries. I argue that individuals living in rural areas are less satisfied with the way democracy works, in particular, in those countries more affected by rural depopulation. Using data from approximately 35,000 respondents to the European Social Survey, I demonstrate that there is a "geography of discontent" when accounting for citizen satisfaction with democracy. Specifically, I find that individuals living in rural areas show lower levels of satisfaction than do those in urban areas. Moreover, there is an interaction between the geographical distribution of population and the area where a person lives. Individuals in rural areas tend to be less satisfied with democracy when the country exhibits a higher degree of urbanization. The hypotheses are examined through single-country linear regressions and multilevel models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]