Giving Compass' Take:

· Reporting for Harvest Public Media, Esther Honig explains that 72 percent of US voters want the government to do more to address digital divide in rural America. 

· How can the government address the digital divide in rural America? What is the best way to expand access to the internet in these areas? 

· Learn more about the digital and economic divides in rural America. 

A new poll suggests 72 percent of voters, regardless of party affiliation, believe Congress and federal regulators “need to do more” to bring high-speed internet to rural Americans.

The survey, done by by the organization Connect Americans Now, which advocates for using TV frequencies for wireless internet, comes just a few weeks before the midterm elections.

While broadband has been on the government’s to-do list since the George W. Bush presidency, more than 23 million rural Americans still lack access to sufficient speeds, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

In 2017, the FCC granted nearly $1.5 billion to fix connectivity issues in rural America through its Rural Broadband Auctions. Missouri received the most funding ($254 million), followed by Illinois (about $99 million). But some expertsand and at least one state says the funding isn’t enough.

Read the full article about rural broadband by Esther Honig at Harvest Public Media.