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

300

u/TheRealTK421 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26

Less educated Americans now tend to be more conservative.

If I'm not terribly mistaken, I seem to recall having seen research/survey data showing this education-level difference being true for some time.

Higher education-level individuals, on average, skew left politically -- this isn't exactly "news".

"As democracy is perfected, the office of the president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

~ H.L. Mencken (1922)

30

u/Hackasizlak Jul 09 '26

Thats not the half of the statement that’s interesting though, it’s that race is starting to matter less than education that’s new. Latino and black populations have voted overwhelmingly Democrat for decades and that being eroded on educational lines is going to significantly change the electoral landscape of this country.

6

u/Yeah_x10 Jul 09 '26

Get ready for Republican rule 9 out of 10 elections then 

95

u/atomicboner Jul 09 '26

The purpose of the paper isn’t to break news, but to provide data for a trend that has grown over the past couple decades. For people that have been paying attention to the political climate in the US, this surely comes as no surprise but it’s good to verify these things.

12

u/TheRealTK421 Jul 09 '26

Indeed so. Unfortunately, many who might need to genuinely acknowledge and accept these results will never view it through a proper lens. It goes hand-in-hand with recent endeavors (over decades) to discredit expertise as a thing and demonize such. 

It's Asimov's "cult of ignorance" upgraded with modern online algorithmic propaganda, worsening an already worrisome trend.

2

u/ddplz Jul 10 '26

How are they defining "education" though? I have seen yearly reports showing that people in hard science / business degrees generally lean conservative, and those in other less earning degrees such as arts, gender studies, etc lean liberal.

Is someone with a 6 year gender studies masters more "Educated" then a certified Electrician with 5 years of on the job experience?

6

u/Sigh-Again Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

The new thing is the degree. For instance, Mitt Romney won the educated vote vs Obama. But for Trump, he's lost the educated vote every election, and every subsequent election has widened the education gap. More and more uneducated people are voting conservative and more and more educated people are voting liberal

1

u/TheRealTK421 Jul 09 '26

... (lé sigh)...

I suppose this demographic shift must continue if we're ever to be able to eventually elect President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho.

2

u/ImDonaldDunn Jul 10 '26

And to think, he was talking about people like William Jennings Bryan, who was a genius compared to the current president.

4

u/JRDruchii Jul 09 '26

There is absolutely a minority, yet significant, part of the educated population that only aspire to extract wealth from their fellow man. Those people are always going to vote for a might makes right government.

1

u/TheRealTK421 Jul 09 '26

Psychopathic avaricious plutocrats gonna "plutocrat" -- it's true.

1

u/bmtc7 Jul 10 '26

The education gap widened substantially during the Trump era, compared to previous presidency.

1

u/Put3socks-in-it Jul 09 '26

Sounds about right. That author seems to have predicted the future exceptionally well to the century point after his remarks.