GOP: now the party of the ill-educated

[ivwshane]

Might we guess that those with less education are also more frustrated with the economy and vulnerable to propaganda as a result?

Scapegoats must have sounded very appetizing to them. Blaming Mexicans and Chinese rather than Republican policy. Easy to point the finger, harder to learn economics and realized how you've been played.

Not unless the data has changed since 2016. In 2016 less education but higher income favored trump. Although I think stressors might have a role as people continuously face national events that might have them looking for anything to blame or focus their fear.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I wonder how many of them are graduates of Trump U? Didn't they pay their fake professors to pass their classes?

 

[pauldun170]

Maybe, but then why is it that 10 years ago registered republicans had similar to slightly higher levels of education as democrats, but in the past 10 years that has changed to where they are notably less well educated?

The fact is there was always a rural white component which could be described as "anti-intellectual." But there was always a more upscale, suburban class of republicans. Those people seem to have fled the party, and recently.

Something has changed these past 10 years.

Foxnews + GOP strategy + Black man as president + data driven marketing on the internet taking advantage of basic human phycology.

Social media allowed data driven horse shit to spread wings and become a plague. What changed was introduction of platforms with a captive easily manipulated audience.

 

[dank69]

The longer you continue to run the exact same grift, the less intelligent your pool of potential marks becomes.

 

[woolfe9998]

Not unless the data has changed since 2016. In 2016 less education but higher income favored trump. Although I think stressors might have a role as people continuously face national events that might have them looking for anything to blame or focus their fear.

Yeah, those facts should be put into perspective. The democratic coalition includes voters of color. Blacks and Hispanics have both lower educational attainment and lower income, for complex reasons obviously having much to do with discrimination.

If you look at the slice of democrats who are white, they are more educated and have higher income, both, compared to white republicans. Given the lower educational attainment of blacks and Hispanics, it is remarkable that today democrats overall and as a whole, have higher education than republicans, who are nearly all white.

 

[shortylickens]

Might we guess that those with less education are also more frustrated with the economy and vulnerable to propaganda as a result?

Scapegoats must have sounded very appetizing to them. Blaming Mexicans and Chinese rather than Republican policy. Easy to point the finger, harder to learn economics and realized how you've been played.

That was basically my point. If you lack knowledge and understanding you will be more susceptible to brainwashing or propaganda or some sort of blind belief system.
HOWEVER, I would like to point out that many of the people who attacked the capitol last month were college educated and had important jobs. Many were lawyers and managers and some were business owners.

 

[Amol S.]

In an unrelated study.

View attachment 39294

I will be honest with you.... those probably interviewed in that study, were probably conservative christians. They probably are thinking the liberals outfits of crop tops and ragged jeans are what is worn by the devil. Them seeing those all over the place, probably is making them fear its the end of time.

 

[pmv]

Lord, politics is complicated. Just started reading about the Know Nothing party (because Trumpism seems very reminiscent of it, from what I've heard of it, but I'm distressingly unfamiliar with US political history), and it's intriguing to me to find that while, like Trump supporters, it was implacably hostile to Catholic (in that case, Irish) immigration, it was actually split over the question of slavery.

Like, for them, Irish migrants were a more dangerous enemy than black people, and the Northern Know Nothings were actually anti-slavery. So complicated how all these things interact.

Reminds me of that infamously non-PC scene in Blazing saddles (you know, the "...but we won't take the Irish" scene). Conversely, of course, those riots depicted in Gangs of New York, I believe in reality involved angry Irish Catholics attacking black people, because they were angry about discrimination against themselves but also had no interest in fighting to oppose slavery.

That line of Bender's from Futurama - "this is the worst kind of discrimination, the kind that affects _me_!" really expresses a universal truth.

 

[Amol S.]

I will be honest with you.... those probably interviewed in that study, were probably conservative christians. They probably are thinking the liberals outfits of crop tops and ragged jeans are what is worn by the devil. Them seeing those all over the place, probably is making them fear its the end of time.

When I said that, I was thinking about a from the comment section of the Fox news article about LA not being able to pay its bills. Pic is bellow by the way. Don't you think that was a bit over board for parents to do for crop tops? I live in NYC and don't even have a child, nor have gotten married yet, or have a girlfriend yet, but I would never consider my own child dead for wearing this stuff. I just don't understand how 32 people agreed with this person. Pic of comment section bellow, "OliverKronFromLouisiana".

 

[K1052]

Lord, politics is complicated. Just started reading about the Know Nothing party (because Trumpism seems very reminiscent of it, from what I've heard of it, but I'm distressingly unfamiliar with US political history), and it's intriguing to me to find that while, like Trump supporters, it was implacably hostile to Catholic (in that case, Irish) immigration, it was actually split over the question of slavery.

Like, for them, Irish migrants were a more dangerous enemy than black people, and the Northern Know Nothings were actually anti-slavery. So complicated how all these things interact.

It was no picnic for the Italians either who were also subjected to shockingly racist and often violent treatment. My dad's side of the family is all Greek and we kind of got lumped in with them even though they were Greek Orthodox, a fact he dislikes me reminding him of when he disparages other groups as a good avid Trump supporter does.

 

[fskimospy]

I find it a bit dispiriting. I thought the whole point of a 'left' was to represent the interests of the less privileged majority, the ordinary people or the working class. If you've ended up with a situation where what passes for a left is now overwhelmingly representing the highly formally-educated professional-managerial class - while the right has captured those who ought to be the force for change, surely something has gone wrong somewhere?

I mean I'm sure those figures are accurate, but I can't help but find them depressing. "PhDs of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your tenure!" doesn't have quite the right ring to it.

Though is there not the antecedent of the "Know Nothings" a couple of centuries ago? Didn't they also combine ignorance with resentment against Catholic migrants, topped off with weird conspiracy theories? This has been a recurrent feature of US politics, no? Is the current Republican party not just a reincarnation of the Know Nothing party?

Statistics I see for the UK seem depressingly similar, at least the contemporary figures - I can't find historical data, but I'm pretty sure that here it was completely the reverse in the past. Now we are more like the US. Though the big dividing line here now seems to be age.

On the other hand, maybe it is more to do with the changing nature of education, and access to it, or even to a change in what constitutes the working class - I guess a lot of jobs requiring qualifications are now rather proletarianised.

I think the primary reason for the shift is that the Republican Party has become an openly white nationalist party. When this happened a lot of more poorly educated white people who used to be democrats flocked to the white nationalist banner and the professional class fled.

While the democrats are still the party of the poor and middle class (look at exit polls by income) I feel like what the parties have become in recent years is a Christianist/White nationalist party vs., well, basically everyone else.

 

[Juiblex]

Geez. Another demonize the other side post. Color me shocked.

 

[Jaskalas]

Geez. Another demonize the other side post. Color me shocked.

How is the other side then?

They still stuck in a stupor after their attack on the Capitol fizzled and Trump never initiated the military coup they so desperately wanted to overturn the election?

I figure they are getting ready to cry about deficits despite Trump and Republicans doubling the deficit. They got drunk celebrating the stock surge of stimulus spending, but now that a Democrat is in office I figure they'd rather cut back spending so they can cry about stocks again. Nevermind the part where they want average people to eat !@#$ and receive a smaller safety net, less min wage, etc.

That about sum it up? Feel free to correct the record.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Geez. Another demonize the other side post. Color me shocked.

you mean the OP? If that's what you call demonize, then you're wearing a cloak of victimhood 100%

I know you don't actually care, but this has been conservatives game for thousands of years. Are you surprised if it permeates throughout societies that are historically heavily influenced by them thru fear and terror?

 

[Commodus]

Geez. Another demonize the other side post. Color me shocked.

Well, what do you propose to change the GOP's lean toward less-educated voters?

I'd love to see the return of well-educated conservatives, but that would also require a major shift in Republican strategy as well as the mindsets of voters. The GOP currently preys on anti-intellectualism, the belief that well-educated people are "elites" who pose a threat rather than simply being more informed, as they often are. The party wages war against science, open-mindedness and even the basic concept of evidence-based decision-making.

The Republican party doesn't need to copy the Democrats, but it does need to drag its ass into the 21st century and accept that some things have changed. Human-made climate change is a real thing we must deal with; abortion, contraception and sex outside of marriage are not going away; people who are not white, straight Christian men exist and deserve to be treated like human beings. And to accept these realities means promoting education rather than attacking it.

 

[Moonbeam]

What do we do about this? It seems a lack of higher education leaves people vulnerable to being duped by Trump and this insane conservative propaganda. Maybe Bernie's idea of free college for all is something we really need to look at, in spite of its high price tag.

I am in favor of a free college education because it is income inequality that keeps many from getting an education. However, at least in my own case and in my opinion it was in high school that I learned to think. I went to a middle class high school with excellent teachers and heavily focused on liberal education. I had 5 years of science 4 of language, science and math US history, civics and was regularly up to 2 in the morning doing homework. Testing was mostly essays or show your work problems etc and for the English classes you had to read read read many of the best books ever written and then discuss penetrating questions about what was going on in them.

I seriously doubt there are many Asian kids or Jewish kids that reach college not having learned to think. That used to be true of white kids too and would have been for everybody had the doors to the kingdom ever truly been open to all. The problem with rural areas in my estimation is that parents as farmers used not to require much in the way of intellectual skills and so they were never emphasized to their children. They also didn't need to be since life on the farm, if hard, was economically doable. Now small people everywhere are fucked by corporate everything.

The thing about competition that leads to disaster for the losers is that the aim of the losers will always be to destroy everything. Why not, it doesn't work for them.

By the way, I don't understand why a wage small businesses could actually afford couldn't be supplemented by the government in exchange for off work hour education.

 

[trenchfoot]

The longer you continue to run the exact same grift, the less intelligent your pool of potential marks becomes.

That right there is how the Repub leadership have managed to cull out the smart ones that would catch on to how they're being played, leaving those gullible ones that can be exploited and radicalized "of their own free will", well conditioned to believe that the more educated you are the further far left and elitist you'd apt to be.

All Trump did was bring out the worst in those folks and kept asking for more.

 

[cytg111]

You have to speak stupid to reach that base. On the surface ill admit it seems legit. Representation is what it is... but these morons be faking it. Trump was faking it. He tells it like it is... bitch please.
Its been drilled into your skulls that if your pilot has a phd in flying planes you will insist on getting a know nothing peep of the earth to replace him and “fly you safely” to your target destination.
The war on brains is on.

 

[Amol S.]

You have to speak stupid to reach that base. On the surface ill admit it seems legit. Representation is what it is... but these morons be faking it. Trump was faking it. He tells it like it is... bitch please.
Its been drilled into your skulls that if your pilot has a phd in flying planes you will insist on getting a know nothing peep of the earth to replace him and “fly you safely” to your target destination.
The war on brains is on.

I think it is more of a war on conservative vs moderates and liberal ideals.

 

[rommelrommel]

Dems not being able to speak to working class blue collar people as well as they did in the past hasn’t helped. Unfortunately most dem policies don’t make for good three word chants.

The culture war is probably closer to a hot war than ever.

 

[Commodus]

Dems not being able to speak to working class blue collar people as well as they did in the past hasn’t helped. Unfortunately most dem policies don’t make for good three word chants.

The culture war is probably closer to a hot war than ever.

One of the biggest challenges for any liberal political party is to convey its ideas succinctly. Intelligent, well-formed ideas often require detailed explanations that don't fit into a soundbite. It's a lot easier to say something jingoistic and meaningless like "make America great again" than "we need to strike a balance between the free market and social protections that ensures a thriving economy while empowering the less fortunate."

I'll say this: if the Dems do manage to find simple, powerful messaging that doesn't dilute their policies, they'll dominate US politics. Biden managed to beat Trump in spite of the latter's incumbent advantage, voter suppression efforts, the pandemic, and Biden's slightly sedate campaign; the Republicans might not stand a chance if there's a charismatic Democratic leader following Biden's tenure (I'm not under the illusion he'll be a two-termer).

 

[HomerJS]

John Cowan who is a neurosurgeon ran against MGT and lost. He checked every conservative box except the crazy.

I heard him give an interview and he had to dumb down his medical bonafides when discussing relating to his constituents. He called it a "fancy degree"

Righties love portraying being "uneducated". If you are educated that makes you an elitist.

 

[ivwshane]

One of the biggest challenges for any liberal political party is to convey its ideas succinctly. Intelligent, well-formed ideas often require detailed explanations that don't fit into a soundbite. It's a lot easier to say something jingoistic and meaningless like "make America great again" than "we need to strike a balance between the free market and social protections that ensures a thriving economy while empowering the less fortunate."

I'll say this: if the Dems do manage to find simple, powerful messaging that doesn't dilute their policies, they'll dominate US politics. Biden managed to beat Trump in spite of the latter's incumbent advantage, voter suppression efforts, the pandemic, and Biden's slightly sedate campaign; the Republicans might not stand a chance if there's a charismatic Democratic leader following Biden's tenure (I'm not under the illusion he'll be a two-termer).

I would disagree only slightly. What democrat politicians lack is the inability or the willingness to sell their policies to the American public using the feels. I believe that is why Bernie gained so much traction, he was able to appeal to the feels. At the same time though, he failed to appeal to those who prefer more data and details.

 

[Storm-Chaser]

A friend e-mailed me this chart earlier today.

View attachment 39291

What's interesting to me is that for decades I assumed that conservatism in general appealed to the less well educated, and vice versa with liberalism. Well, that was not true as of 2010. In 2010, those with high school or less were considerably more likely to be democrats. Well, now in 2020, that has flipped entirely, as with all other categories of education. Also, polling data shows that after being white (i.e. race) low education was the single most predictive factor in voting for Trump. Remember when Trump said "I love poorly educated voters?" He had good reason.

Trump has clearly lured poorly educated democrats while sending well educated republicans fleeing to the other side. The obvious conclusion is that Trump's brand of know-nothingism, which seems to be the general direction of the republican party right now, is incompatible with being knowledgeable about the world and thinking critically, which are both products of higher education.

The conservative counter-narrative is that college brainwashes people into liberalism because of its "liberal bias." But that assertion has been made for decades. It was being made when college educated people were evenly split between the two parties. So it is clearly incorrect. The problem for the educated wasn't conservatism per se. It is Trump's noxious brand of it, which is fast taking over the entire American right.

What do we do about this? It seems a lack of higher education leaves people vulnerable to being duped by Trump and this insane conservative propaganda. Maybe Bernie's idea of free college for all is something we really need to look at, in spite of its high price tag.

I can blow this out of the water very quickly simply by looking at the individual districts and how the voting went down.

 

[vi edit]

Oh look I can post maps too!