University of Nebraska, Courtesy
The longest-running poll of rural life in the United States, the Nebraska Rural Poll is an annual survey conducted by Nebraska Extension and its community development division, Rural Prosperity Nebraska.
Traditionally rural Nebraskans have had little say in state policy decisions, especially when compared the metropolitan and micropolitan areas of the state. The Nebraska Rural Poll changes that. Acting as an aggregated voice of rural Nebraskans, the Poll relays its findings to state lawmakers, ensuring rural opinions are heard.
Focusing on issues such as community, government policy, well-being, and employment, the goal of the Nebraska Rural Poll is to give local and state leaders a better understanding of the needs, priorities, and viewpoints of Nebraska’s rural citizens.
CORE QUESTIONS
Core questions are included in the Poll each year. Over time these core questions provide insight into trends and changes occurring in rural Nebraska. In addition, each year rural citizens and government officials form an advisory committee that identifies key issues or topics to include in the survey for that year. Poll findings are distributed to members of the Nebraska Legislature, staff members of the state’s congressional delegation, and other state and local leaders to facilitate their decision making.
Research Services
The Rural Poll offers researchers from the University system, non-profits, and state and federal agencies the opportunity to develop question sets about issues important to rural Nebraskans. Rural Poll team members experienced in survey methods, distribution, and data analysis work alongside researchers to develop questions and analyze results.
An additional research opportunity includes purchasing an over-sample of an area (community, county, multi county region, etc). This allows researchers to collect data on a geographic area of interest that includes questions about individual well-being, satisfaction with community, and other topics selected for that particular year.
Members of the Rural Poll team also assist with other survey and evaluation projects. This can include areas such as survey preparation, data collection, data analysis, and report preparation.
The past year continued to be challenging for rural Nebraskans. Inflation continues to impact household budgets, particularly housing costs. Low unemployment, in part due to labor shortages, helped raise wages for workers but businesses struggle to fill openings which hampers economic growth. Lower agricultural commodity prices have pointed to a projected decline in farm iwncome.
Given these challenges and opportunities, how do rural Nebraskans believe they are doing and how do they view their future? How satisfied are they with various items that influence their well-being? Have these views changed over the past 29 years? How do they view their mental health and do they experience feelings of loneliness? This paper provides a detailed analysis of these questions. This report details 1,010 responses to the 2024 Nebraska Rural Poll, the 29th annual effort to understand rural Nebraskans’ perceptions. Respondents were asked a series of questions about their well-being.
