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"The actual teachers probably lean left, as they're educated (who generally tend to lean left)" Nope: http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=539 http://dabacon.org/pont

"The actual teachers probably lean left, as they're educated (who generally tend to lean left)" Nope: http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=539 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=539

RK 16y ago
Plots would really help that table. Edit: OK, I messed around with matplotlib and made a couple plots. This kind of data is not my specialty. The bottom plot groups the different Democratic and Republican categories into just Democratic and Republican. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/407960/political_parties_and_education.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/407960/political_parties_and_educati... The strongest trend seems to be that people in the "strong Republican" group increase with educational attainment. I made the (poor?) assumption that teachers are most likely to fall into the graduate degree category, thus the bottom plot.
kenjackson 16y ago
That table is fairly old, but even using that table, more people with bachelors or graduate degree lean left than right (3392 v 3278). Historically, those with degrees leaned right. It's been trending left and I wouldn't be surprised if this was the point where the lines crossed. Here's more recent data (http://www.gallup.com/poll/118528/gop-losses-span-nearly-demographic-groups.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/118528/gop-losses-span-nearly-dem...), and as you can see Republicans have lost 10% of college grad support since 2001. As you can also see, in 2001 most with college grads slightly leaned Republican. By 2009 it is hugely slanted Democratic. This is consistent with my theory that the data you provided where college grads slightly lean left was one of the first years where the lines crossed and its been an exodus of college grads to the left ever since.
- jdminhbg 16y ago
  2009 was basically the low-water mark for the GOP brand in modern history, so I'm not sure that those numbers are all that accurate now, but it's not a huge deal. More to the point, the party gap in with college degrees is surely vastly smaller than the party gap in the private workforce vs members of public-sector unions, so it's sort of weird to assert that the reason teachers lean Democratic is that they're "more educated."
  - kenjackson 16y ago
    2009 was basically the low-water mark for the GOP brand in modern history, so I'm not sure that those numbers are all that accurate now Isn't it somewhat odd to assert that 2009 data may not be all that accurate now, after providing 2003 data? Anyways, my point was that teachers probably lean left, although probably not dramatically so. It doesn't sound like you dispute this claim.

"The actual teachers probably lean left, as they're educated (who generally tend to lean left)" Nope: http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=539 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=539

RK 16y ago

Plots would really help that table. Edit: OK, I messed around with matplotlib and made a couple plots. This kind of data is not my specialty. The bottom plot groups the different Democratic and Republican categories into just Democratic and Republican. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/407960/political_parties_and_education.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/407960/political_parties_and_educati... The strongest trend seems to be that people in the "strong Republican" group increase with educational attainment. I made the (poor?) assumption that teachers are most likely to fall into the graduate degree category, thus the bottom plot.

kenjackson 16y ago

That table is fairly old, but even using that table, more people with bachelors or graduate degree lean left than right (3392 v 3278). Historically, those with degrees leaned right. It's been trending left and I wouldn't be surprised if this was the point where the lines crossed. Here's more recent data (http://www.gallup.com/poll/118528/gop-losses-span-nearly-demographic-groups.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/118528/gop-losses-span-nearly-dem...), and as you can see Republicans have lost 10% of college grad support since 2001. As you can also see, in 2001 most with college grads slightly leaned Republican. By 2009 it is hugely slanted Democratic. This is consistent with my theory that the data you provided where college grads slightly lean left was one of the first years where the lines crossed and its been an exodus of college grads to the left ever since.

jdminhbg 16y ago
2009 was basically the low-water mark for the GOP brand in modern history, so I'm not sure that those numbers are all that accurate now, but it's not a huge deal. More to the point, the party gap in with college degrees is surely vastly smaller than the party gap in the private workforce vs members of public-sector unions, so it's sort of weird to assert that the reason teachers lean Democratic is that they're "more educated."
- kenjackson 16y ago
  2009 was basically the low-water mark for the GOP brand in modern history, so I'm not sure that those numbers are all that accurate now Isn't it somewhat odd to assert that 2009 data may not be all that accurate now, after providing 2003 data? Anyways, my point was that teachers probably lean left, although probably not dramatically so. It doesn't sound like you dispute this claim.