Education and political affiliation

well, i was definitely kidding...

Why is that shocking?

I really thought I was the only one here with that combo. The poll says 4.

Yeah the sample is too small, it's doubtful we'll get up to 1000 responses anytime soon. We'll leave it running indefinitely and see what happens.

Yeah I don't care about the sample I was just explaining the concept of it.

If you leave it running long enough, I might get a degree!

I really thought I was the only one here with that combo. The poll says 4.

With nearly 4,700 people here there's bound to be a few.

This might be more useful:

Gallup Poll: Education, Race, Income and Political Affiliation (http://www.gallup.com/poll/107689/Early-Gallup-Road-Map-McCainObama-Matchup.aspx)

Pretty much split down the middle on education until you get to post-graduate where Obama has a 13 point advantage.

I think that raises an interesting "chicken or egg" question. Do those with post-grad degrees favor Obama because they're more intelligent and more intelligent people just favor Obama? Do the universities tend toward a Democrat position because they're more intelligent, or are they a product of a largely Democratic/liberal university system and the system attracts its own? Essentially are the universities predominantly Democratic and therefore the people who thrive in that environment (i.e. go on to obtain a post-grad degree) tend to be Democrats also?

Obviously each side would like to claim one position or the other. I think simply looking at the poll and concluding that "Smarter people favor Obama" is an oversimplification - it deserves some more thought.

This might be more useful:

Gallup Poll: Education, Race, Income and Political Affiliation (http://www.gallup.com/poll/107689/Early-Gallup-Road-Map-McCainObama-Matchup.aspx)

Pretty much split down the middle on education until you get to post-graduate where Obama has a 13 point advantage.

I think that raises an interesting "chicken or egg" question. Do those with post-grad degrees favor Obama because they're more intelligent and more intelligent people just favor Obama? Do the universities tend toward a Democrat position because they're more intelligent, or are they a product of a largely Democratic/liberal university system and the system attracts its own? Essentially are the universities predominantly Democratic and therefore the people who thrive in that environment (i.e. go on to obtain a post-grad degree) tend to be Democrats also?

Obviously each side would like to claim one position or the other. I think simply looking at the poll and concluding that "Smarter people favor Obama" is an oversimplification - it deserves some more thought.

universities have been known for a long time as being VERY skewed towards liberal politics. and it's not obama, it's democrats in general, though he's a liberal's liberal. It started after WWII, i's assume vietnam had a big hand in it, and now i'd tend to think that there's probably some indoctrination, at least for those that get phd's and stay in the world of academia.

as far as which party is smarter, i don't think you can prove it either way. if you poll CEOs and top level business managers, you'd probably get skewed conservative views, and i'd wager, even if they don't have as many phds (specialty knowledge), they're just as smart.

It will largely depend upon the discipline in which the degree was obtained.

Obama may be leading amongst all those with post-graduate degrees. But break that down by discipline; those with MBAs I can vitrually assure will favor Republicans. Those with degrees in science and math fields will favor Democrats. Those with law degrees will favor Democrats by a pretty wide margin.

And actually a lot of that can be explained by simply following the money. MBAs work for corporations for the most part, and they tend to like lower corporate tax rates for obvious reasons. Scientific researchers depend upon federal and state funding, which Democrats tend to provide more of.

With nearly 4,700 people here there's bound to be a few.

There are 4700 active members here??????

There are 4700 active members here??????

Yes, if you count EARTHQUAKE...lol