A theme I am
hearing lately on the news pisses me off: comparing college educated voters to non-college
educated voters in support of Donald Trump.
The newsroom pundits (who have all had the advantage of attending
college) are inferring, without actually saying, that college graduates are
smarter than non-college graduates, thus non-college graduates are more likely
to support Trump.
College
attendance, for most people, has depended on income more than intelligence. I spent twenty-two years in the military as
an enlisted man, and many of the officers, who held their ranks solely because
of a college degree, were some of the most stupid people I have ever known.
When my wife
and I attended college I was forty-one and my wife was in her late
twenties. I had more general knowledge
and far more experience than many – if not most – of my college
professors.
I believe
the voting breakdown is more a factor of demographics than education.
The
Republican hierarchy is always saying their party needs to be more
inclusive. Actually the Republican
Party is extremely inclusive.
It has
been said – and I have repeated – that not all Republicans are racist, misogynist,
gun nuts, white supremacist, militia morons, lobotomized fundamentalist
Christian or Fox News troglodytes; but if you are a member of one of those groups
there is a place for you in the inclusive Republican Party. It just so happens that most people that fall
into one of those group are poorly educated in general and likely on the lower
slope of the IQ bell curve.
So
constantly breaking down voting statistics by college/ non-college demographics
is a false equivalency, and disregards the millions of people who have never
had the opportunity to attend college and are smart, experienced and informed
people.
You can
prove or disprove anything you want with statistics – it is all a matter how
you group the data.
