A lecture featuring researchers Nicholas Jacobs and Daniel Shea and their book “The Rural Voter” will be held at Dolezal Auditorium in Curtiss Hall on Thursday at 6 p.m.

The lecture, titled “The Rural Voter: The Politics of Place and the Disuniting of America,” will take place in room 0127 of Curtiss Hall, featuring researchers Jacobs and Shea.

The lecture will be based on the book, “The Rural Voter,” which explores perceptions of rural life, beliefs, values and how rural voters will play a crucial part in the 2024 presidential election.

“The question Shea and I set out to explore was given all this diversity in each part of rural America, given the fact that people vary in each place, why is it that the politics increasingly does not vary?” Jacobs said.

The researchers found that economic struggles and factors of social change, such as declining job opportunities, have changed perceptions of the voiceless in rural communities.

“We only think of rural communities in misportrayed ways,” Jacobs said. “We overlook that many rural people love living in their communities and would never give it up.”

Jacobs, an assistant professor of government at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, has published two books and has appeared in many scholarly journals, including “Education and the Urban Society.” He teaches American politics and research methods at Colby College.

Shea, a professor of government at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, has published and been featured in numerous journals. His most recent journal is “Why Vote? Essential Questions about the Future of Elections in America.”

The Iowa State University bookstore will be onsite selling “The Rural Voter.”

For more information on university lectures, visit their website.

For those who are unable to attend the lecture in person, a full-length recording of the lecture will be uploaded to the available recordings page 24-36 hours after the event.