Obama beats Clinton among highly educated voters
by Christi Parsons
Here’s an interesting finding from a Gallup poll conducted this summer: Barack Obama's strongest support is among more highly educated Democrats, but that’s not a marker that traditionally helps a candidate seeking the party’s nomination for president.
According to the Gallup analysis, Obama’s support gets stronger among Democrats as the voters’ education level goes up. Hillary Clinton’s support, meanwhile, tracks in the opposite direction, with her strongest suit in those with a high school education or less.
This means that, among highly educated Democrats, Obama is competitive with Clinton, even though she's several points ahead of the field of candidates overall.
A Gallup analysis of historical polling data shows that at least one candidate has exhibited an Obama-like pattern in each election cycle since 1988, but only in the case of Mike Dukakis did that candidate end up winning the Democratic nomination.
Interestingly, John Edwards’ support is consistent among Democrats of all education levels.
From the Gallup report:
It is not entirely clear why the candidates whose support is positively correlated with education have not fared better in recent campaigns. But at the most basic level, these candidates were typically not that well positioned at the start of the primary and caucus season, and thus started out at a disadvantage.This may be due in large part to name recognition. Especially early in the campaign, Democrats with a college education are probably more likely than Democrats without a college education to be familiar with the lesser-known candidates. Name identification is a critical factor in candidate support because respondents are not likely to support a candidate they know little about. Much of the battle for the candidates is to become known, and once they do, the campaign can play out differently from how it starts.
At this point in the 2008 campaign, Clinton is nearly universally known among all Democrats, regardless of education level. On the other hand, Obama is a much more familiar to highly educated Democrats than those with less formal education.
Alternatively, the candidates who have shown growing support across education levels may share similarities -- such as in their issue positions or personal style -- that appeal to highly educated Democrats but may not attract the broader base of the party.