When we say 'White Working Class Voters'

[speak easy]

are we really talking about Education?



https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/exit-polls

College* includes Attended college but received no degree; Associate's degree; Bachelor's degree; and an advanced degree after a bachelor's degree.

[elleng]

1. Somewhat/largely

NOT college-educted white voters.66%

[love_katz]

2. Education can make a difference.

A good education can improve a person's ability to think logically and critically.

So, now will people ' get it ', as to why the Fright Wing wants to eliminate the Department of Education, and force Bible lessons into public schools, and hand public tax money to religious schools?

[H2O Man]

3. Recommended.

[Silent Type]

4. Some interesting responses if accurate. Thanks. Interesting that those making more than $100K

were more likely to vote Democratic than those making less. Assume education has something to do with it.

[brush]

5. Voters of color with a degree and and voters of color with no degree...

according to the chart are 10 percent and 19 percent respectively. That equals 29 percent of voters of color. Where and how are the other 71 percent classified?

As a matter of fact, where and how are the 28 percent of white voters who don't seem to be represented on the chart?

[Jim__]

7. I read that as meaning 29% of all voters were voters of color.

That horizontal line like 33%, 39%, 10%, and 19% adds up to 101% - my guess is that's a rounded sum - s/b 100%

[radius777]

6. Probably. The term 'working class' is hazily defined,

as someone who is (a) non college educated and (b) works with their hands, ie blue collar and (b) is generally struggling economically.

The reality is that many blue collar workers make more money (and thus inhabit a higher economic class, live in the suburbs) than many white collar workers.

Another false narrative is that of the 'coastal elites' as if everyone who lives in cities is wealthy or educated. Most urbanites are working class, just diverse - so it doesn't fit the media image of the rural white guy in the plaid shirt.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

14. I used to live in Saginaw MI ...

I was a starting professor at a local state university. My neighbour was a union line worker at the car plant in town. He was a few years younger than me. He made about the same as I did. His father lived next to him. He also worked at the plant and had for decades. He made significantly more than I did. Both of them were blue collar. I was highly educated white collar. Twenty-five years in academia later I am still not sure I have caught up to his senior union salary. I knew electricians, plumbers, and other tradespeople that also made more than I did/do.

Blue collar definitely does not mean poor, though it can. Especially in the service industries today rather than the union trades.

Just my experience.

[radius777]

20. And that dynamic will only increase

as there is a shortage of people going into those blue collar fields (union and non-union alike) which has only driven up the price/salary for those workers.

The younger generations (millennials, gen-z) mostly don't want to do that type of work, and many took on big loans and expenses for college degrees, and are in white collar and service jobs that don't pay well, due to outsourcing as well as an oversupply of workers in those fields.

So who we think of as struggling or working class is different than what it was a generation ago - and it's why we need to appeal across the board to the economic working class whether that person works in an office or works in a factory. The centering of the white guy who works with his hands is just outdated and doesn't help us at all - it only plays into the Trump narrative of that guy being the true American.

[The Wandering Harper]

8. more educated equals less racist

is my takeaway from this

[Demobrat]

9. Better educated and better paid means

more exposure to the world and the people in it. Exposure breeds acceptance and friendship.

When all you know are people like you and the TV is telling you to hate everybody who isn’t, I guess that’s what you do.

[littlemissmartypants]

11. Then how does one..

Account for the educated who voted Republican? I don't think it's that easy to suss out.

The exposure to media propaganda cannot be underestimated. Anyone can be susceptible to that. Even the educated can be bamboozled if they are isolated from a range of sources and see no reason to question the one's that they are exposed to regularly.

People are lazy. Economy of effort can't be overlooked.

[Abolishinist]

10. Also less religious,

especially when compared to the Reich-wing XTIAN Nationalists.

[Mariana]

17. People keep ignoring religion but it's a huge factor.

63% of Protestant Christians and 58% of Catholic Christians voted for Trump. People like to pretend that the Christian nationalists are the fringe, but that just isn't true. The Christian nationalists are the mainstream.

[Ilikepurple]

13. Maybe the more educated the less need to punch down?

Or stop me if I’m being too cynical, but maybe the more white annd educated, the more diverse the pool of punchdownables are, even other white people. Unless we stop worshipping the supreme winners of this capitalist game, it’s always going to be easier to get the white working poor to blame some caricature of a marginalized class over those that control the distribution of wealth.

[The Wandering Harper]

15. I never learned to punch down

I grew up poor and my natural impulse has always been punching up.
I wonder to what extent punching down is a learned behavior

[radius777]

19. The problem with that argument

is that most of Trump's base are doing pretty well... non-college doesn't mean poor as mentioned above... it often means a well paid union job or tradesmen that make a middle to upper middle class salary. Most electricians, plumbers, cops, firefighters etc live in the suburbs.

And alot of his voters are college educated as well, business people on Wall St, etc.

Trump's voters don't care about class in a race-neutral way. To the extent that they care about class it's more about feeling like 'the other' has taken their place, and they don't like it. It's why they're so triggered by things like woke, social justice, DEI, CRT - they don't want those 'other people' having the same rights that they do.

[KPN]

12. Basically, but definitely whites as a whole as well ...

and I'm white ... so it really hurts and feels like betrayal. Not to mention I do feel ashamed of my race and my country.

At the same time, I felt that way to an extent when I was in my late twenties -- 45 years ago. So nothing new.

[Mike 03]

16. IMO Yes. I really think we should be

talking about "rural white males who did not attain education beyond high school."

[alarimer]

18. Yes, I suppose that is one factor

The other thing is that there are many places in this country that are truly hopeless to live in.

Honestly, no jobs, no future for anyone (barring leaving, which is an option for some). True "shitholes" with no hope of anything.

The problem is that they blame the wrong people (immigrants, largely) instead of the rich fucks that caused it.