A new report from UNO’s Center for Public Affairs Research shows metro Nebraskans rank crime as their most important issue, while rural residents face problems with job opportunities.
David Drozd, Research Coordinator at UNO’s Center for Public Affairs Research, says this report was based on residents’ responses to Omaha metro and rural polls.
Drozd says he was surprised by the finding that there seems to be a disconnect in the way metro Nebraskans understand the lives of rural Nebraskans, and vice versa.
He says though metro and rural Nebraskans agreed on the top, most serious issues facing their non-local areas, they didn’t seem to have a good sense of the day to day experience of residents in their non-local areas.
"Both areas viewed jobs as the main problem in rural Nebraska but beyond that then, metro area residents listed agricultural and water issues as some of the top rural problems. But those didn’t even make the Top 10 list for actual rural Nebraskans.”
Drozd says the actual day-to-day life experiences of rural Nebraskans might actually be more focused on schools, or housing issues they are having.
This is the first year the Nebraska Rural Poll and the Nebraska Metro Poll coordinated to ask the same questions so comparisons could be made.