This thread is prompted by the current Twitter trend about the 'diploma divide" in the California recall and how much more pronounced it is compared to the original gubernatorial race only a few years ago.
But this is only a case of a trend being bolstered by new evidence. There are a ton of other studies and polling data that show how those with a college education skew Democratic while those without skew Republican. This transcends other divisions such as gender and it exacerbates it in cases of race.
Why do uneducated people prefer the Republican party?
What does it say about the Republican party that people who are educated are not Republican?
How can the Democratic party appeal to the uneducated, or would they even want to?
Is it good for democracy that one of the two major parties appeals to the uneducated?
1)Do the uneducated in the inner cities prefer the Republicans?
2)No people who are educated are Republican? Really?
3)They dont want to appeal to those same inner city voters?
4)What?
According to various talk shows, it means that the college educated have been brainwashed by higher education’s Marxist agenda. More seriously, it is evidence of the loss of Democratic support among their former FDR base of “the average working man”.
I agree with this. The divide between traditional white collar and blue collar workers continue to grow. Changes in the economy are exacerbating the difficulties of blue collar workers.
the education gap only really exists among white people. there really isn’t an education gap among Latinos, blacks or Asians.
the education gap has nothing to do with income. 538 did a study controlling for income and found that at all income levels, high school educated people/whites are 30-50 points to the right of college educated ones. poor, middle class, upper middle class etc.
the education gap is fairly recent. over the last few decades college educated whites moved left and high school educated whites moved right. I believe several decades ago the education gap was reversed, college educated whites were more gop.
this part is important. the education gap isn’t about education, it’s about bigotry and authoritarianism. when you control for various forms of bigotry (anti black racism, Islamophobia, nativism, sexism) and authoritarianism the education gap among whites disappears.
as the gop becomes more bigoted and authoritarian they drive away those lower on these traits and attract people higher in these traits. this is the root of the education gap among white voters.
I think the education gap is because of the recent GOP shift towards populism. If Trump finally loses by a landslide in 2024, maybe it will go away along with populism.
That’s starting to change. Trump and the Republicans did better in 2020 with certain segments of the various Latino and Black groups compared to how he did in 2016. This was most prominent along the Texas border and in South Florida.
In 1940, 5.5% of American men finished 4 years of college or more. In 2020 it was 36.7%. (Fewer women in 1940, more in 2020.) This doesn’t include 2 year degrees and those who went to college but did not get a degree.
First of all, you have to stipulate that exceptions do not invalidate the rule. Yes, there are some very educated people who vote Republican and some uneducated people that vote Democratic. Education is a good but not infallible predictor of political affiliation.
College graduates tend to have higher developed critical thinking skills. You gain an appreciation that not everything is black and white and not every problem has a simple solution. Unlike most high school experiences, in college you’re exposed to a variety of people of all backgrounds, ethnicity, beliefs, and so on. It’s this appreciation for shades of gray and the value of scientific knowledge that has been stripped from modern day Republicanism. To the modern GOP, every issue has to fit on a bumper sticker. Facing a complex issue like global warming? Forget about it! Pretend it doesn’t exist. Don’t want to face the reality of white supremacy? Whine about statues of confederates being torn down. Angry that gas prices go up? That’s simple, blame Biden for stopping that pipeline that would have carried filthy Alberta shale oil. The uneducated are much easier to win over for Republicans since they make no effort to win them over with cold logic. They respond much better to fear of others and instilling the idea that their perfect worlds were ruined by letting people who don’t look like them, pray like them, or love like them be different then them and be different openly. One party sells hope and ideas, the other sells fear and hatred. It’s no accident that the messages of fear and hatred resonate so well among the uneducated. That’s a design feature, not a bug.