One thing is for certain, though: This concentration of liberals in cities is due to the continued rise of a “knowledge economy” dominated by urban-dwelling college graduates, Enos says, and a corresponding shift away from an industrial society once dominated by the rural voters who constitute Trump’s base.

The knowledge economy, as it’s called, prioritizes the exchange of information over the production of physical goods, and values jobs in industries such as technology, health care, finance and academics. “Those jobs are increasingly driving the U.S. economy, and they tend to be more clustered in urban centers than manufacturing ever was,” Enos says.

The Knowledge Economy is Driving the Country Apart