Grand and San Juan counties, neighbors in the southeastern corner of Utah, are divided by a dusty 60-mile border and, according to a new poll, a stark split in public opinion.
It’s an unusual but not wholly unexpected fracture for this rural — and mostly red — area of the state. But at its heart, more pronounced here than anywhere else, are decades of differences over land management policies that have largely determined economic prosperity, population growth, unemployment rates, poverty and, as the survey suggests, political leanings, too.
“There are these very differing viewpoints between the residents,” said Judd Nielsen, a lead researcher with Dan Jones & Associates, which conducted the poll.