The Most Educated States Voted Blue
The data reveals a lot about education in the U.S.
After doing some research regarding the most and least educated states in the midst of the presidential election, I have come to a realization:
The most educated states in America have overwhelmingly voted for Biden, while the least educated states in the country have voted for Trump.
I first noticed a similarity when I compared a map detailing the current election results from The Associated Press…
…to Business Insider’s ranking of the most educated states:
The darkest blue states (the most educated) mirror the states that voted for Biden in the election, whereas the lightest colored states (the least educated) also parallel the election results when it comes to states that voted for Trump.
More recent data from World Population Review in 2020 confirms these parallels. The education scores are based on a combination of attainment and quality, and the states are ranked as follows:
The cells in blue marked “B” are states Biden won, and the cells in red marked “T” are states Trump won. The white cells marked “?” are — at the time I am writing this — undecided.
Statistically speaking, the least educated states (the bottom 50%) are overwhelmingly Trump (72% so far), whereas the most educated states (the top 50%) are overwhelmingly Biden (76%).
The World Population Review isn’t the only place to rank the most educated states, though most places do rank them in a similar order. For example, American School and University ranks the top ten most educated states in this order:
…100% of which are blue.
There are numerous sources ranking the most educated states over the last several years, but they’re all pretty consistent. When compared to the election results, there is an undeniable connection between education and the final vote.
In fact, the article “America Is Divided by Education” from The Atlantic shows that a gap in education has existed for some time between Democratic and Republican voters; deemed “the diploma divide,” the report shows that in the previous election “61 percent of non-college-educated white voters cast their ballots for Republicans,” whereas only “37 percent of those without a degree” voted for Democrats.
Compared to the 2016 election, this year shows a stronger divide, though the pattern has existed for some time. Now we must ask ourselves why. Why are the most educated states voting overwhelmingly for one candidate over the other? And what can we learn from this?
These results have strong implications, but regardless of who you voted for, this is a conversation worth having.
As a teacher, it is my job to educate students, but a high school diploma is rarely enough. We must value education and continue to ask why, because education is worth valuing, and because questions like these are worth asking.
If we don’t, the consequences can alter the course of an entire nation.
