After the presidential election, I thought: "You know, it seems to me that the GOP used to be a lot smarter and the Democrats used to be a lot dumber."
Admission: my first vote was in 1960 and I must say that I voted for Nixon. Believe me, it seemed a lot less stupid at the time. Live and learn. However, I voted for Nixon because he seemed to be the representative of rational, sound, unemotional thinking. In other words, he seemed to be speaking to the "educated" part of America...at least, it seemed that way.
This year, the positions of the two parties seemed so diametrically reversed that I had to figure out what had happened in all those years. So, I fished out the census data, pawed through it, and I think I found some information that is instructive (and surprising).
See below.
* Educational achievement data is derived from 1960 and 2000 US censuses
This data is based on the % of the state's population with college degrees
In 1960:
Among the fifteen states with the highest percentage of college graduates:
Nixon won (12):
Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Wyoming
While Kennedy won only (3):
Delaware, Mass, and Nevada
Among the fifteen states with the lowest percentage of college graduates:
In 1960, Kennedy and/or Democrats won (11):
Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Missouri, Georgia, Rhode Island, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia
While Nixon won only (4):
North Dakota, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia
In 2004:
Among the fifteen states with the highest percentage of college graduates:
Kerry won (11):
California, Connecticut, Maryland, Mass, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island, New Hampshire
While Bush won only (4):
Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Virginia
Among the fifteen states with the lowest percentage of college graduates:
Bush won (14 of 15!):
North Carolina, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, Alabama, Tennessee, New Mexico, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Wyoming
Kerry won only (1): Maine
Conclusion: That is a huge turnaround.
In 1960, 80% of the "most" educated states voted for the Republican, and 74% of the "least" educated voted for the Democrat. In 2004, 74% of the "most" educated voted for the Democrat, and 93% of the "least" educated voted for the Republican. I might add, Bush won poorly educated states pretty much all over the country, not only in the Deep South.
(If I knew how to make fancy graphs, it would look pretty impressive. Maybe one of you young folks could slap up some graphs to demonstrate.)
Final Conclusion: "I'm graduating from College" is now just another way of saying "I'm becoming a Democrat."