Those who keep saying we are all the same in Saskatchewan conveniently ignore the reality that rural and urban folks do think differently.
It's a thought worth keeping in mind the next time you hear federal Conservative politicians tell you the province should keep split urban/rural seats - a concept politically advantageous to Conservatives these days but not necessarily the best way to represent either rural or urban voters.
But don't take my word for it - just look at any polling results. We are again reminded of this by the recent work by the University of Saskatchewan Social Sciences Research Laboratories that polled Saskatchewan people for the Taking the Pulse series.
The massive survey of 1,750 people taken last March for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post and CBC Saskatchewan may very well be the most extensive polling of the province in recent memory. The survey with an accuracy of plus or minus 2.34 per cent 19 times out of 20 covered every area from abortion to the economy to immigration to First Nations to gay marriages.
From such a huge undertaking one can expect many themes to emerge. But perhaps the most intriguing theme was that rural and urban people don't often view things the same way.
For example, in the section on crime and public safety, rural residents were more likely to think crime has increased (39 per cent) than urban residents (32 per cent) and rural residents were less likely to think crime has decreased (11 per cent) compared with urban folks (17 per cent).
The reality is that crime has been decreasing everywhere with the possible exception of large urban centres like Regina and Saskatoon that remain in the top three in the nation in most crime reporting statistics. There is no doubt that rural Saskatchewan is safer, yet the residents don't necessarily feel crime is going down.
Similarly, rural folks are less satisfied with policing (79 per cent) than urban residents (86 per cent satisfied). Perhaps this is a reflection of reality, given that many small towns don't have an RCMP depot.
In some other areas, rural Saskatchewan was more optimistic than their urban cousins.
More rural people (54 per cent) believe agric-business can be trusted to protect the environment than urban people (49 per cent).
And when asked whether home ownership is still attainable in Saskatchewan, rural residents were more positive (76 per cent) than urban residents (64 per cent). Of course, this might have something to do with the fact that rural housing prices are cheaper.
However, what emerged in the survey is confirmation that rural residents are generally further right-of-centre in their views than urban residents.
More rural residents thought that immigration levels were too high (34 per cent) than urban residents (25 per cent).
And while 70 per cent of rural residents don't believe First Nations pay enough taxes, only 59 per cent of urban residents felt the same way.
And it was the moral issue questions in the University of Saskatchewan survey where we see some of the most pronounced differences between rural and urban.
While 73 per cent of urban residents surveyed believed the federal government should continue to recognize gay marriages, only 57 per cent of rural people felt similarly.
On re-instituting capital punishment, 65 per cent of rural people supported the notion compared with just 49 per cent of urban people.
Sixty-four per cent of rural residents disagreed with decriminalizing marijuana compared with 55 per cent of urban residents.
And while 74 per cent of urban residents said they believed abortion was a woman's choice, only 64 per cent of rural residents felt that way.
Of course, other issues factor in. Rural Saskatchewan residents are generally older which factor into the thinking. And let's accept that some of the survey differences are relatively small.
But the point is, rural residents do think slightly differently than urban folks.
Or so the surveys tell us.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 15 years.
