It's recently been the case that college educated voters have trended substantially toward the Democrats,
going from a Republican-leaning demographic in the 1990s to a Democratic-leaning one today. This bore itself out in 2016 and 2018, with Democrats doing well in many well-educated suburbs.
Some liberals (wishfully) see this as a realignment of the Democratic Party towards all things cosmopolitian and elite. However, how much of this trend has to do with a college education becoming more attainable for women and racial minorities?
Only 19.4% of Black and 16.1% of Hispanic 18-to-24 year olds were enrolled in college in 1980, compared with 27.3% of Whites. By 2013, these numbers had shifted: college participation rates for Blacks and Hispanics had almost doubled (to 34.2% and 33.8%, respectively) while for Whites it climed to 41.6%. That's a 52% growth in college participation for Whites between 1980 and 2013, compared to 109% for Hispanics and 76% for Blacks.
The numbers are similarly striking for women. Women had a 25.0% participation in 1980 (compared to 26.4% for men). By 2013, 18-to-24 year old women had college participation rates of 43.3% whereas for men it was 36.6%. Once again, we seem big gains among women (73% growth in participation) and more paltry increased among men (39% growth).
Statistics linked here. Table 302.60.College-educated White men are still very Republican (preferred Trump by 14 points in 2016), unfortunately I can't find exit polling data broken down by education-race-gender prior to 2016 to see how that has shifted over-time.
So, is that the story of Democratic gains among educated voters? I don't buy the idea that getting a college education turns conservatives into liberals. It's just that the changing demographics of college graduates (more female, less White) has made the college educated less of a natural Republican constituency.
