Two weeks ago, McCain held a substantial advantage among white voters, including newfound strength with white women. In the face of bad economic news, the two candidates now run about evenly among white women, and Obama has narrowed the overall gap among white voters to five percentage points.
Much of the movement has come among college-educated whites. Whites without college degrees favor McCain by 17 points, while those with college degrees support Obama by 9 points. No Democrat has carried white, college-educated voters in
presidential elections dating back to 1980, but they were a key part of Obama's
coalition in the primaries.
This is an amazing statistic to me. Why would the Democratic candidate lead among white votes with college degrees by nine points and trail by seventeen points among white voters without college degrees?
Could it be that those with college degrees know more? Could it be that they have more information about the complexities of life, including the presidency, than their non college educated counterparts? Wouldn't it be a good idea to be informed as much as possible before one votes?
If voters are not voting on the basis of their knowledge and their education, what are they voting on? Gut instinct? Personality characteristics and personal story?
The Republican Party almost always wins the non-college educated vote, partly by painting the Democrats as elitist. If one becomes an elitist by being college educated, why do most Americans - even those without a college education - want their kids to go to college?
We are really divided on this one aren't we? We want our kids to go to college, but we don't want to vote for someone who did well in college and got an advanced degree because - well, that is elitist.
We've had eight years of a president who, while the recipient of two degrees, apparently did not learn anything. He won by portraying himself as rather uneducated and stupid - a guy to have a beer with - a guy with a brain who preferred not to use it.
Wouldn't it be nice for a change to elect someone who actually uses his brain - even if he is an "elitist?"
