The Pnyx: America Divided?

Joshua Schuetz
Staff Writer

There are many divides in America. Geography, class, race, and gender are all to be taken seriously. But there is another divide, one which has more salience in the aftermath of the 2018 elections, just as it did in 2016.

What is that divide? Simply put, whites without a college degree were far more likely to back Donald Trump, and Republican candidates in general, than whites with a college degree. Racial minorities largely broke for Clinton and the Democrats, in line with previous polling.

2018 confirms those divides. Educated suburbs were brutal for Republicans, while areas with medium education levels largely held. Racial minorities turned out for the Democrats, as did a massive number of white, suburban, college educated women.

This political divide also encapsulated geography. Rural areas, which normally vote Republican, generally have fewer college graduates than urban areas and suburban areas. Some of this divide has to do with jobs. A degree in business law, for example, is unlikely to help you in becoming a wind-turbine technician. 

Urban areas have a lot of college graduates, and suburban areas are generally a mix, which is why they are increasingly serving as a kind of political battleground. Having said that, there are opportunities for both parties in areas not typically associated with them, but…