Created Equal: How is education status affecting American politics?

Americans are divided in many ways, but there’s a growing distinction between Americans who have college educations and those who don’t.

College-educated voters are moving dramatically into the ranks of the Democratic Party, attracted by the party’s views on subjects like diversity and inclusion. And less educated voters are flocking to the Republican Party, drawn by its skepticism of cultural change.

The authors of “Polarized by Degrees: How the Diploma Divide and the Culture War Transformed American Politics,” Matt Grossman and David Hopkins, joined Created Equal to talk about the ways that higher education status reflects — and influences — the American political landscape. 

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Grossman explained that the Democratic Party may be losing the image of being for the working class, and although Donald Trump accelerated this political divide, he is also a consequence of it. Grossman discussed how George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign relied on appeals to the white working class rather than coastal elites, and how Barack Obama’s campaign appealed to progressive, educated voters. He also explained that because the U.S. has a lack of viable third parties, candidates can push parties and voter bases to more extreme positions, increasing the existing polarization. 

Hopkins explained that educated, white-collar voters tend to be more culturally progressive than non-educated, blue-collar voters. These educated voters are steadily increasing their cultural and economic power and increasingly believe in a government run by educated and intellectual people. This creates an opposite effect within non-educated voters who tend to be more culturally conservative and may be nostalgic for a less progressive and less globalized past, where they had more economic power. 

Hopkins also explained that this political polarization increased as we became more socially segregated along educational lines. 

“One of the things that makes this trend a polarizing trend is that we’re already losing venues in our social lives where people of different levels of educational attainment and class background can come together, get to know each other, build social relationships with each other and reach across some of these divides,” Hopkins says. 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Guests: 

• Matt Grossman is the director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and professor of political science at Michigan State University. He is also a co-author of “Polarized by Degrees.”
• David Hopkins is a political scientist at Boston College. He is also a co-author of “Polarized by Degrees.”

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.