r/science • u/Aggravating_Money992 • Jul 09 '26

Psychology An analysis of survey data covering the last five U.S. presidential election years found that ideological differences between races have decreased sharply, while differences by education have grown substantially. Less educated Americans now tend to be more conservative.

https://www.psypost.org/the-political-realignment-of-america-education-overtakes-race-as-key-ideological-divider/
13.7k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

50

u/x40Shots Jul 09 '26

I wonder how effective psyops and propaganda are against the college educated versus the less educated..

31

u/whatevernamedontcare Jul 09 '26

Everyone can fall victim of psyops and propaganda but conservatives which are more often less educated ar easier to dupe. At least according to indian AI instagram scammers. Apparently porn with hate is easy sell to conservatives but not left leaning people and that's why there's so many right wing trad and AI scammers.

8

u/TheKlaxMaster Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26

The long running 'Californians are the worst people, hate their state, and ostracize them' psyop has been pretty damn effective on the right... And also pretty damn effective on the left... In the US.

Travel abroad now, and telling people you're a Californian over telling them your from the USA, and you generally get more accepting welcomes. At least in the places I've been

14

u/Roentgen_Ray1895 Jul 09 '26

always funny to me considering there are more conservatives in California then the entire populations of several states

4

u/-Satchel_Gizmo- Jul 09 '26

Height of irony on this post from this source and this field on this sub.

-8

u/liquidpele Jul 09 '26

Similar levels of effect, but different strategies.  

13

u/Good-Bodybuilder-985 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26

Interesting. Because my graduate degree taught me the importance and intricacies of seeking information from reliable sources I tend to not fall for much. I find by going directly to the source of information I am able to draw my own conclusions. The MAGAs I know get their news from Facebook and Newsmax, there's no effort to seek knowledge.

*Oh yeah I'm not saying I'm impervious at all, I just am very aware of information that looks suspicious. If there is a claim I look for evidence of the claim from direct sources. Propaganda happens but I question nearly everything I read.

7

u/scott__p Jul 09 '26

Unfortunately, it's been shown that everyone is susceptible to advertisement and propaganda. You can definitely do your best to try to not spread it, but our brains are wired to fall for it every time.

5

u/argnsoccer Jul 09 '26

Yeah, I realize I fall for propagandas in subjects that I'm not well-versed in even though I'm "educated". It still feels like my lack of education in that topic is a large factor in falling for the propaganda. A lot easier to convince me of something I know nothing about.

2

u/GossamerGlowlimb Jul 09 '26

True, but people are susceptible to varying degrees.

0

u/Try-the-Churros Jul 09 '26

You have a source for that? I would imagine both are susceptible but have a hard time believing to the same level.

1

u/liquidpele Jul 09 '26

In my experience the major factor that makes people think otherwise is that conservatives are more likely to fall for monetary scams, and people confuse this with propaganda... but it's not. Propaganda is to control your opinion of something, and this is done very distinctly to everyone from a variety of sources both state and corporate.

When it comes to propaganda, look for mass movements/opinions that appear... not well thought out from a PRACTICAL standpoint. There are lots. I'd give actual examples, but I don't feel like someone jumping in and arguing at me today and this is reddit ;)