To read Mother Jones, you’d think that no white, college-educated women support the Republican party. A headline from Wednesday reads: “Quote of the Day: College-Educated Republican Women are Extinct.” But that’s neither a quote nor a fact.
The article quotes Steve Bannon saying such women are “done” with the Republican party, but nowhere does he or anyone else say “extinct” except for Mother Jones’ headline writers. Here’s what Bannon actually told Vanity Fair:
The Republican college-educated woman is done. They’re gone. They were going anyway at some point in time. Trump triggers them.
But Bannon also said that he expects some suburban Republicans to return to the party because of the nominations of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Undeterred, Mother Jones turns to The Washington Post for a chart showing a massive gap between white, college-educated women’s support for Republicans and Democrats. These women have certainly left the Republican Party in droves since President Donald Trump was elected, but they are not “extinct.”
Fewer than 25% of white, college-educated women favor Republicans, while nearly 75% favor Democrats — for a total difference of 47 points in favor of the Left.
If the trend continues, then yes, these Republican women could become extinct, but I don’t plan to turn to the Left any time soon, and walk into any College Republican chapter across the country and you’ll see plenty of women.
But beyond this, I take issue with the idea of discussing “college-educated” versus “no degree.” It’s almost always used to insinuate that those with a degree are somehow more intelligent (people with degrees tend to support Democrats). Simply saying someone has a degree doesn’t make them smart. Look at all the things people can major in, like Gender Studies or Philosophy. And we know colleges and universities are insanely biased toward the Left, so it’s no surprise people who attend them end up supporting Democrats. Does that make them more intelligent or more susceptible to indoctrination?
And people without degrees aren’t automatically less intelligent. With all the complaints over tuition and student loans, maybe the people who eschew tens of thousands of dollars in debt in order to start making money right out of high school are on to something.