The Insidious Political Bifurcation of America

Democrats did very well in Virginia yesterday.

The Commonwealth has risen to be the 6th best-educated state.

Mississippi, the 50th, did as one would expect.

Kentucky, the 45th, was a minor surprise.

Unlike the other two, I don't see the result in Kentucky as being indicative of future results.

Of course, level of education is merely one empirical demographic index, like per capita income (Virginia #6, Kentucky #45, Mississippi #50), age, gender, etc., none of which should be deemed superior or inferior in any respect, but, given the correlative consistency, it cannot be dismissed as a significant factor.

(All Americans, of course, regardless of academic attainment, wealth, or other distinctions have an equal right to express their elective preferences, and all must be equally respected.)

EDUCATIONAL RANKING
1 Massachusetts
2 Maryland
3 Vermont
4 Connecticut
5 Colorado
6 Virginia
7 New Hampshire
8 Minnesota
9 Utah
10 Washington
11 New Jersey
12 New York
13 Oregon
14 Hawaii
15 Illinois
16 Delaware
17 Maine
18 Montana
19 Kansas
20 Wisconsin
21 Rhode Island
22 Nebraska
23 North Dakota
24 Wyoming
25 California
26 Iowa
27 Alaska
28 Florida
29 Pennsylvania
30 Michigan
31 North Carolina
32 Ohio
33 Georgia
34 Missouri
35 South Dakota
36 Arizona
37 Indiana
38 Idaho
39 Texas
40 New Mexico
41 Tennessee
42 South Carolina
43 Oklahoma
44 Nevada
45 Kentucky
46 Alabama
47 Arkansas
48 Louisiana
49 West Virginia
50 Mississippi​

Another factor of significance is the urban/suburban vs rural divide:

Democrats have a challenge to win back less-educated white voters that lost faith in their Party. Republicans, conversely, have alienated better-educated, affluent suburbanites.

Both parties must undertake ambitious reclamation projects.

 

Last I read, BOTH parties were down about 4% in voter registration. I would really like to see a new, viable third party take hold.

 

You could always try to fix the one you hate the least...

 

You have to look beneath the statistics. In rural areas, a college education is not considered to be as important as in an urban area for the simple reason that a college education will not help a farmer enough to make it worthwhile to invest four years and a hundred thousand dollars for an advanced education. There are many college educated farmers and they tend to do well, but you have to look at the benefit/'cost ratio to determine whether it is a worthwhile investment.

 

No doubt there are multiple factors that account for disparities in academic attainment, income, etc.

The demographics are merely what they are without concern for causation, and are only significant in their correlations with voter preferences.

 

But they are not the only correlations. For instance. Farmers and other rural residents tend to be more independent and want less government which makes them lean republican.

 

I don't understand why the election favoring democrats is somehow tied to education in the OP?

What are you trying to say here? That states with higher education, and thus more educated individuals are smarter? Are you claiming that democrats support education more? Or, are you trying to insinuate that democrats are responsible for the education rating?

Or... did you take an election result and then go out and try to find some statistic that you believe reinforces your support of the outcome? Seems most likely.

 

There are many demographic correlations, some more significant than others.

 

A 3rd party would be cool, I just feel like they never win though

 

This isn't always true. Land Grant Colleges are the best source of agricultural knowledge. Many have test plots that provide farmers information on differing crops, and farming methods. Most modern farming is done on corporate farms. As such, there is an upper echelon of workers who are college educated, and the more mundane workers aren't. This is even seen on large family farms. The farmers children are sent of to college and come back with the latest ideas on scientific farming. Those who keep up thrive, those that don't, don't thrive.

 

In Mississippi there are farmers who sit at a computer desk and run field fertilizing, planting, and harvesting without hunting boots or steering a tractor. I'm sure it can be done without a degree in agriculture but that don't hurt. They still leave herbicides and insecticides to the crop dusters, and the mucking out of the stalls and animal care to employees or children. Some lease land to hunters during the winter seasons (tens of thousands of ducks and geese are gonna die a hard, hard death and get ate, Bambi too). Most farmers are still proficient carpenters, roofers, electricians, and can weld and repair internal combustion engines because it saves cash outlay, especially in winter.

 

Actually it is something that has been known for a long time. When one lines up lists of things like educational level, library usage, religiously, and political leanings, a clear pattern emerges, the more educated, least religious areas tend to lean left, whereas the more religious, less educated areas tend to lean right. It is not absolute, but there is a clear trend.

 

Hardly anything is always true. However, as a general rule, it is not worthwhile for a farmer to spend four years and a hundred thousand dollars for a degree. That hundred thousand might be better spent on a combine. Likewise, not many other jobs in that small town require a college degree that make it worth the investment. A trade school makes more sense.

The biggest mistake is trying to equate the lack of a college degree with stupidity or ignorance. I have a masters degree. In all honesty, I am not sure that masters degree has done a thing to further my life. Out of our high school class of about thirty five people, the most successful man did not go to college. He ended of VP of Sales in a fortune 500 company. He was brilliant at math, however.

 

Completely disagree.

I would be willing to bet that those statistics you claim are looking at metropolitan areas as one data point. Which typically, lean blue, however; most of the educated individuals with the patterns you claim are living in the suburbs voting red.

Secondly, I am an educated professional with a college degree and I am here to tell you that there is a big difference between "education" and "intelligence". Some of the stupidest people I know have high levels of education, and to be honest... they can memorize a book but lack all sorts of common sense, reasoning, and logic. On the converse side of that, you have a farmer who has a high school education that can tear a combine apart and put it back together on his own.

The superiority complex of the left is noted... and patently false.

Go walking through your truly left leaning areas, that is the ghettos and depressed inner city areas, and no... you aren't finding a bunch of scholars.

 

Here is Chicago voting results, by precinct, Romney verse Obama.



but I am sure that the statistics say that "Chicago voted for Obama". While the statistics also show that Chicago is smarter than southern Illinois. Except... they are blending statistics to make that work.

 

As one would expect, the political preference of better-educated states is consistent with party affiliation, as the conservative Washington Times reported last year:

As I had noted, Democrats have a challenge to win back less-educated white voters that lost faith in their Party. Republicans, conversely, have alienated better-educated, affluent suburbanites.

Both parties must undertake ambitious reclamation projects.

 

How do you explain the study performed in 2012 that showed that republicans were better informed than democrats?

 

I have no need to harken back to 2012. "Better informed" is a subjective opinion, if there was such a survey.

Educational attainment is an objective one that has flipped over time. Perhaps, "better informed" has as well, but I'd rather deal with objective metrics.

 

I could look down my nose at Democrats most of whom aren't near as educated as I am, but I would never lower myself to your level.

Virginia has been moving to the left ever since the Community Agitator grew government It isn't because of education. It's because 4 of the6 wealthiest counties in the country acquired their wealth by raping the rest of the country. They hate Trump because he is not big on 95% of the country being raped by a bunch of self dealing crooked Democrats. I went to HS in Norfolk, went to UVA, and worked in Lynchburg for 20 years. I used to commute to Bethesda, Md for meetings with the NRC ,,, along the way, even back in 1985, my path was visited by government workers, lobbyists, and consultants on their way to do their part in drowning out the rest of the country while stealing our tax dollars.

From what I understand, 30 seats went unopposed in VA. I can imagine that the conservatives in SW Virginia and people raised in military homes in SE Virginia want no part of the socialists who have taken over the state legislature.

 

There was a study performed in 2012 by Fairleigh Dickinson University. Nine questions on the election were asked. Republicans answered all nine questions correctly more often than democrats. The republicans may not have been a well educated, but they were better informed on the election.

That is about objective as you can get. Same questions for both democrats and republicans, but the republicans scored better.

 

You are free to look down whoever's nose you look down.

The relative level of academic attainment in the various states is merely a metric that correlates strongly with their voting patterns, with no subjective assumptions of superiority or inferiority unless you need to insinuate them into the objective reality.

 

I allege no correlation between academic attainment and your recalling a sampling of an unknown number of people being able to answer unspecified questions years ago. Might yours have been the survey that had this finding?

People who didn’t have any reported exposure to news sources were expected to answer 1.28 questions correctly, a figure which rose to 1.97 for people just listening to NPR, to 1.60 for people just watching The Daily Show or listening to talk radio, and 1.52 for Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind Poll TM home 2 people watching Sunday morning shows. By contrast, people who reported watching just Fox News were expected to answer just 1.08 questions correctly.

http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2012/confirmed/final.pdf​

The conservative Washington Times article, "Democrats now more educated than Republicans, Pew survey finds" was published in March of last year.

 

That is the study. In that study, republicans answered every question correctly more often than democrats. Therefore, republicans got a higher score on the test than democrats. This takes me to my point which has been made by several. Education level is a poor indicator of intelligence and common sense. Just about anyone who has worked extensively with academia will tell you the same thing. They tend to be focused on their area of expertise at the expense of other areas.

 

Unfortunately not terribly viable without first changing from FPTP. Getting the duopoly that benefits from its mechanics to change that is a very tough sell.

 

Once true, I agree. But in this age of viral social media, I believe that a ground swell party might be viable.