Conversely, people in rural areas are simply desperate for friends. Within 2 months of moving to the country, we had different 2 couples who made it clear they wanted to give being friends a proper go - simply because they are desperate and we seem like we’re on a similar vibe.

You lucked out. I've lived in a ton of rural areas and its almost always Trump country and at best maybe some centrist/libertarian wackos or even if there are lefties they're religious or something. The only rural types that are OKish are the hippy types, and even they can be annoying in large doses with their nonsense spirituality, smell, and cliquey musical tastes. I never end up living near the hippies though.

That said, "desperate to make friends" is something I have observed in rural and suburban areas. Its just by living there, so are you. I'd rather be able to filter through a large number of people and find people that match my specific beliefs as close as possible than be stuck with a dice roll of just a few (sometimes distant) neighbors.