By THOMAS BEAUMONT, SIMRAN PARWANI and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX, Related Press
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Pessimism in regards to the nation’s future has risen in cities since final yr, however rural America is extra optimistic about what’s forward for the U.S., in accordance with a brand new survey from the American Communities Challenge.
And regardless of President Donald Trump’s insistence that crime is uncontrolled in massive cities, residents of the nation’s largest metropolitan facilities are much less prone to record crime and gun violence among the many chief considerations going through their communities than they had been a pair years in the past.
Optimism in regards to the future can also be down from final yr in areas with massive Hispanic communities.
These are a few of the snapshots from the brand new ACP/Ipsos survey, which presents a nuanced take a look at native considerations by breaking the nation’s counties into group varieties, utilizing information factors like race, earnings, age and spiritual affiliation. The survey evaluated moods and priorities throughout the 15 completely different group varieties, reminiscent of closely Hispanic areas, massive cities and completely different sorts of rural communities.
The widespread denominator throughout the communities? A gnawing fear about every day family prices.
“Considerations about inflation are throughout the board,” mentioned Dante Chinni, founder and director of ACP. “One factor that really unites the nation is financial angst.”
Rising optimism in rural areas, regardless of financial anxiousness
Rural residents are feeling extra upbeat in regards to the nation’s trajectory — regardless that most aren’t seeing Trump’s promised financial revival.
The $15 price ticket on a range pack of Halloween sweet on the Kroger grocery store final month struck Carl Gruber. Disabled and receiving federal meals assist, the 42-year-old from Newark, Ohio, had hardly been oblivious to lingering, excessive grocery store costs.
However Gruber, whose spouse is also unable to work, is hopeful in regards to the nation’s future, primarily within the perception that costs will reasonable as Trump suggests.
“Proper now, the president is making an attempt to get corporations who moved their companies in another country to maneuver them again,” mentioned Gruber, a Trump voter whose assist has wavered over the federal shutdown that delayed his month-to-month meals profit. “So, perhaps we’ll begin to see costs come down.”
About 6 in 10 residents of Rural Center America — Newark’s classification within the survey — say they’re hopeful in regards to the nation’s future over the following few years, up from 43% within the 2024 ACP survey. Different communities, like closely evangelical areas or working-class rural areas, have additionally seen an uptick in optimism.
Kimmie Tempo, a 33-year-old unemployed mom of 4 from a small city in northwest Georgia, mentioned, “I’ve anxiousness each time I’m going to the grocery retailer.”
However she, too, is hopeful in Trump. “Trump’s in cost, and I belief him, even when we’re not seeing the advantages but,” she mentioned.
Huge-city residents are apprehensive in regards to the future
Against this, the share of big-city residents who say they’re hopeful in regards to the nation’s future has shrunk, from 55% final yr to 45% within the new survey.
Robert Engel of San Antonio — Texas’ booming, second most-populous metropolis — is apprehensive about what’s subsequent for the U.S., although much less for his era than the following. The 61-year-old federal employee, whose employment was not interrupted by the federal government shutdown nor Trump’s effort to scale back the federal workforce, is close to retirement and feels financially secure.
A secure job market, well being care availability and a good financial surroundings for his grownup kids are his most important priorities.
Just lately, the inflation outlook has worsened underneath Trump. Shopper costs in September elevated at an annual price of three%, up from 2.3% in April, when the president first started to roll out substantial tariff will increase that burdened the financial system with uncertainty.
Engel’s less-hopeful outlook for the nation is broader. “It’s not simply the financial system, however the state of democracy and polarization,” Engel mentioned. “It’s an actual fear. I attempt to be cautiously optimistic, but it surely’s very, very onerous.”
Crime, gun violence are much less a priority in city America
Trump had threatened to deploy the Nationwide Guard to Chicago, New York, Seattle, Baltimore, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, to battle what he mentioned was runaway, city crime.
But information reveals most violent crime in these locations, and across the nation, has declined in recent times. That tracks with the ballot, which discovered that residents of America’s Huge Cities and Center Suburbs are much less prone to record crime or gun violence among the many prime points going through their communities than they had been in 2023.
For Angel Gamboa, a retired municipal employee in Austin, Texas, Trump’s claims don’t ring true within the metropolis of roughly 1 million folks.
“I don’t wish to say it’s overblown, as a result of crime is a critical topic,” Gamboa mentioned. “However I really feel like there’s an agenda to scare Individuals, and it’s so pointless.”
As a substitute, residents of Huge Cities usually tend to say immigration and well being care are vital points for his or her communities.
Huge Cities are one of many group varieties the place residents are more than likely to say they’ve seen modifications in immigration lately, with 65% saying they’ve seen a change of their group associated to immigration over the previous 12 months, in contrast with solely about 4 in 10 residents of communities labeled within the survey as Evangelical Hubs or Rural Center America.
Gamboa says he has witnessed modifications, notably outdoors an Austin Dwelling Depot, the place day laborers repeatedly would collect within the mornings to search out work.
Not anymore, he mentioned.
“Immigrants weren’t displaying up there to commit crimes,” Gamboa mentioned. “They had been displaying as much as assist their households. However when ICE was within the parking zone, that’s all it took to scatter individuals who had been simply looking for a job.”
Hispanic communities are much less hopeful in regards to the future
After Hispanic voters moved sharply towards Trump within the 2024 election, the ballot reveals that residents of closely Hispanic areas are feeling worse about the way forward for their communities than they had been earlier than Trump was elected.
Carmen Maldonado describes her group of Kissimmee, Florida, a fast-growing, majority-Hispanic metropolis of about 80,000 residents about 22 miles (35 kilometers) south of Orlando, as “critically troubled.”
The 61-year-old retired, active-duty Nationwide Guard member isn’t alone. The survey discovered that 58% of residents of such communities are hopeful about the way forward for their group, down from 78% final yr.
“It’s not simply hopelessness, however worry,” mentioned Maldonado, who says folks in her group — even her fellow native Puerto Ricans, who’re Americans — are anxious in regards to the Trump administration’s aggressive pursuit of Latino immigrants.
Simply over a yr in the past, Trump made substantial inroads with Hispanic voters within the 2024 presidential election.
Past simply the way forward for their communities, Hispanic respondents are additionally considerably much less prone to say they’re hopeful about the way forward for their kids or the following era: 55% this yr, down from 69% in July 2024.
Maldonado worries that the Trump administration’s insurance policies have stoked anti-Hispanic attitudes and that they’ll final for her grownup baby’s lifetime and past.
“My hopelessness comes from the truth that we’re a big a part of what makes up the US,” she mentioned, “and typically I cry desirous about these households.”
Parwani and Thomson-DeVeaux reported from Washington.
The American Communities Challenge/Ipsos Fragmentation Examine of 5,489 American adults aged 18 or older was carried out from Aug. 18 – Sept. 4, 2025, utilizing the Ipsos probability-based on-line panel and RDD phone interviews. The margin of sampling error for adults general is plus or minus 1.8 share factors.
