It seems obvious that a college education would affect your political views in some way. After all, you’re exposed to much more information and many more kinds of people than ever before. But a new study indicates that highly educated Americans are actually becoming more liberal. The Pew Research Center released a report showing that college graduates who identify themselves as “consistently liberal” have grown significantly as a group over the past two decades.
Today, 31 percent of post-grads would consider themselves consistently liberal compared to only 7 percent in 1994—a big increase. More significantly though, there hasn’t been a drastic increase in liberal views among those with only a high school degree or the equivalent. Today, 5 percent of people with a high school education would consider themselves consistently liberal. In 1994, that number was 1 percent. That means that while in 1994 there was a difference of six percentage points between college-educated people and high school-educated people when it came to liberal beliefs, today there is a difference of 26 percentage points.
NPR cites a variety of reasons for this shift in political ideals. For instance, politics in general have been more polarized as Democrats become more liberal in their beliefs and Republicans become more conservative. The Pew Research report confirms this shift, recognizing that more than half of people who identify themselves as Democrat or left-leaning are “consistently liberal.” 20 years ago, only one in five Democrats considered themselves consistently liberal.
Among other theories for the political shift are the growing number of women receiving college educations and post-grad degrees. More women tend to vote Democrat than men, so as the demographic for higher education changes, so does the voting pool.
Does this fit with what you’ve experienced in college?