I’ve heard stories that the real Andy Griffith is a lot closer to Lonesome Rhodes than he is to Andy Taylor.
That is my understanding also.
Of course, the writers were responsible for the Andy Taylor character. When it first aired - Andy was a bumbling rube - but that role was moved over to Barney Fyfe and Andy became wise and ‘normal’.
It’s always possible the writers were snidely insulting country people - but I loved all the story lines and the characters.
Noting that Ron Howard & Andy Griffith are both left leaning libs...there had to be some ‘Lonesome Rhodes’ attitude on that set.