Education polarization—the increasing extent to which education predicts voting patterns—has become an increasingly important political trend affecting political outcomes not just in the United States, but in most Western democracies. In the United States, the rise of Donald Trump, who accelerated a shift of high-education suburban voters into the Democratic Party, made this phenomenon more salient to political observers. While pundits have blamed college-educated voters for moving the Democratic Party to the left, my research suggests that college-educated voters are in fact deeply pragmatic and that Democrats can maintain strength with college-educated voters without shifting to the left. The Democratic Party’s growing strength with college-educated voters offers the party unique asserts, but to take advantage of them the party should move to the center—not shift left to accommodate these voters.
Democrats, Be the Party of Pragmatic Progress
Democrats, Be the Party of Pragmatic Progress
Democrats, Be the Party of Pragmatic Progress
Education polarization—the increasing extent to which education predicts voting patterns—has become an increasingly important political trend affecting political outcomes not just in the United States, but in most Western democracies. In the United States, the rise of Donald Trump, who accelerated a shift of high-education suburban voters into the Democratic Party, made this phenomenon more salient to political observers. While pundits have blamed college-educated voters for moving the Democratic Party to the left, my research suggests that college-educated voters are in fact deeply pragmatic and that Democrats can maintain strength with college-educated voters without shifting to the left. The Democratic Party’s growing strength with college-educated voters offers the party unique asserts, but to take advantage of them the party should move to the center—not shift left to accommodate these voters.