The Yawning Divide That Explains American Politics

This is a VERY long read from The Wall Street Journal (owned by Fox's Rupert Murdoch), but a very good one. I will include only the top two charts out of the eleven in the article, so that should give you an idea about how much information is contained.

There is a split happening among the American population, and it will continue to divide us as groups of citizens that have not traditionally been well educated are getting more educated, leaving other groups behind. In particular the divide is happening between men and women, and especially between educated women and less educated men.




This first chart covers the last two and a half decades and shows that as women get more and more educated they are almost exclusively leaning to the Democrat side. Equally, men without education are becoming so far right, it is impossible to bring either back to the middle.

The gap is something new in American politics, and it has fundamentally changed how campaigns are waged. Once, white voters as a whole were “persuadable’’—they might have leaned toward one party or the other, but no big bloc within the group was out of reach. Today, as the chart below shows, a campaign for Congress in many places starts with 60% of college-educated white women favoring the Democratic nominee. An even larger share of white men without degrees favor the Republican—making both essentially unreachable by the opposing candidate.

Essentially unreachable.

Those words scare me. An entire subsection of uneducated men is unreachable. And an entire section of educated women is equally unreachable. Think of the repercussions of this over the next twenty or thirty years. Not only will the divide become greater and greater, polarizing our country, it is bound to also polarize our homes, our families.

Now, educational attainment has supercharged that split among white voters, who account for more than 70% of the electorate. Those with bachelor’s degrees have shifted toward the Democratic Party, while the Republican Party has gained among voters who don’t have four-year college degrees.

The educational divide isn’t strong among nonwhite voters, who lean heavily toward the Democrats. In fact, minority voters with and without bachelor’s degrees have become more politically aligned in recent years.

While there have always been reasons to keep the population uneducated and malleable, it seems now, more than ever, that this will become the strategy in the future. As uneducated white men go further and further to the right, they will become an unshakable foundation of the party, meaning that the only way to retain that strength will be to keep people uneducated.

At the same time, why are educated people so stubborn and stuck in their ways? Isn't intelligence and education supposed to open eyes and leave people more willing to compromise and mend bridges?

Check all the charts please, each one has a paragraph explaining what is shown. I'll leave you with one last quote from the article.

The changes help explain why Democrats are nominating so many women for Congress, and why the fight for control of the House has shifted to districts with higher levels of education. One other big shift in the electorate further shows how the Republican appeal among college-educated voters is weakening: White men with bachelor’s degrees, once the most reliable Republican voters, now swing between parties and in the past year have consistently polled in favor of Democrats.

Keep in mind, this is a very right leaning, conservative newspaper.

Huh ... and some of us still prefer Republican control with our education.

I think a better thing to look at would be married v. unmarried. Generally speaking, married women with families, educated or not, tend to prefer Republican control.

The other thing to consider is that the education establishment has become overall hostile to white men, too. Since the '50s more women have gotten degrees than men in the universities, so that chart is a bit misleading. The education establish overall favors women despite constant whining that women are always being left behind.

a reply to: ketsuko

Of course ketsuko, the article does not say that absolutely ad certainly ALL women or ALL men lean this or that way.

Just the majority. And the divide will get greater with time. Location also makes a difference. Family tradition still plays a role and so on.

This is not an absolute, but it is real.

One of the comments for that article was very fitting. Basically saying people with lots of college debt lean toward the Dems for socialism, while the people without the college debt lean towards conservatism. Makes sense to me.

a reply to: Mahogany

You left out skin color and socio-economic class as ways to divide the american people.....that is your purpose right?

originally posted by: Middleoftheroad
One of the comments for that article was very fitting. Basically saying people with lots of college debt lean toward the Dems for socialism, while the people without the college debt lean towards conservatism. Makes sense to me.

That makes sense and confirms the article.

Those who have an education will have a debt from that education. Those who are uneducated will have no debt since they did not go to school.

Unfortunately our schooling is not free, so education does come with a cost. But it also come with knowledge and education.

Someone that popped into my mind looking at those charts, probably because I just watched it yesterday. But it highlights another problem with the political divide between sexes.

It's an older video, but pretty interesting.



The graphs in his video was actually pretty surprising when I saw them.

originally posted by: ketsuko
Huh ... and some of us still prefer Republican control with our education.

I think a better thing to look at would be married v. unmarried. Generally speaking, married women with families, educated or not, tend to prefer Republican control.

The other thing to consider is that the education establishment has become overall hostile to white men, too. Since the '50s more women have gotten degrees than men in the universities, so that chart is a bit misleading. The education establish overall favors women despite constant whining that women are always being left behind.

Yeah, I think the divide is a bit more nuanced.

I'd say blue collar white men are tired of being sh*t on by PC culture of the left which is what is driving them right. The left all but wrote off blue collar white men and they found a home in the GOP under Trump.

It is no surprise that educated white women still lean left... most women are emotional. Being a leftist means you are an emotional thinker. Logic and facts don't matter even if you are "educated".

a reply to: Mahogany

The chart reflects that "educated white women" lean more democrat, but there isn't any mention of the fact that a) more women are being recruited to colleges, and b) colleges already espouse and promote a culture that is nearly 100% in step with the democrats anyways.

a reply to: Middleoftheroad

If only the Soviets had pushed more people to college, Stalin would still be ruling a Union...
Further proof that the American education system doesn't make anyone educated or smart as much as it indoctrinates them and grades them based on how much of the Kool Aide they slurped down.

a reply to: Mahogany

As your first chart demonstrates, these things can cycle radically in the span of a few years. So nothing is permanent.

As ketsuko says, the general hostility towards white men in politics accounts for much of their preference.

I also question this 'educated' voter characteristic. How meaningful is that in the era of an academia that pushes out essentially unskilled drones with massive student loan debt and a guaranteed lifetime of limited financial choices?

I bet that has a massive impact upon how those people think politically.

I'd love to see a distinction between STEM and non-STEM educated voters. I bet you we would see something very different.

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
a reply to: Middleoftheroad

If only the Soviets had pushed more people to college, Stalin would still be ruling a Union...
Further proof that the American education system doesn't make anyone educated or smart as much as it indoctrinates them and grades them based on how much of the Kool Aide they slurped down.

I never saw any indoctrination going on, but it does seem like a way for the government to turn our young population into debt slaves. The government should be pulled out of the system entirely and let the colleges do their own risk analysis on which students they will approve loans for and maybe the degree's will become worth something again.

originally posted by: Middleoftheroad
One of the comments for that article was very fitting. Basically saying people with lots of college debt lean toward the Dems for socialism, while the people without the college debt lean towards conservatism. Makes sense to me.

That would again tie into married v. unmarried.

Unmarried people are really going to feel that debt more on one income, especially if you are talking about an unmarried woman who has bought into the feminist hype that she can have everything, including a family (child or children), on her own, no man needed.

a reply to: loam

That is another factor.

They still whine and cry about how under-represented women are in STEM, and we are constantly told that only degrees that really offer a good return on your college investment are STEM degrees.

So if women are earning the majority of degrees but are under-represented in STEM degree programs, what can we conclude about women's degrees? They are great for saddling women with debt, not so great about equipping them for good careers that will let them get out from under that debt.

originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: Middleoftheroad
One of the comments for that article was very fitting. Basically saying people with lots of college debt lean toward the Dems for socialism, while the people without the college debt lean towards conservatism. Makes sense to me.

That would again tie into married v. unmarried.

Unmarried people are really going to feel that debt more on one income, especially if you are talking about an unmarried woman who has bought into the feminist hype that she can have everything, including a family (child or children), on her own, no man needed.

Absolutely

a reply to: ketsuko

Exactly my point...and exactly the kind of voter that would lean far left.

a reply to: Edumakated

That's a whole other pool I hadn't even thought of, but you are right.

a reply to: Mahogany

Simply looking at the chart in the OP, one has to wonder what in the world occurred after 2010 that really divided these 2 extremes? It looks like by 2012 is actually where they go extreme opposite. When earlier they were apart but somewhat fluctuating generally left and right in sync.

I actually think that these charts will see another dramatic change over the next coming decade. More women are realizing the Democrats are not the only party in town anymore. They are able to have a voice elsewhere, even within the Republican party.

a reply to: CynConcepts

Obamacare happened in 2010.

How many of those white men without degrees lost their health care under that bill?

How many of those women thought it was awesome sauce because they may have received subsidy?

originally posted by: ketsuko
...no man needed.

Reflecting on my field experience, the slogan seems to be, ironically, "Don't need no man".

They sure leave an impression.