There is a reason Trump's demographic appeals to the least educated in this country. It is easier to manipulate and lie to the uneducated. Here are some examples of why: We have been there before with isolationism and fascism and appeasement. Trump touts all three. These were failures then 90 years ago and will be failures in the future. Education is a substitute for institutional memory that few alive have from 80 to 90 years ago.. Fascism destroyed Germany and Italy. Isolationism and appeasement only work when there are no aggressive adversaries. The US and British tried and it resulted in WW II. We have it now with Russia and China who are aggressive adversaries. To them, appeasement and boot-licking is the sign of weakness, not alliances, to be taken advantage of.
I am on a private Facebook page that is a rare interface with both Trump voters and progressives. It is entitled Political Debate and Discussion. Neither happens because the Trump supporters simply post meme bombs instead of discussing and debating. Dropping a clever phrase of a meme and then thinking they have dropped the mike, and therefore, their truth is enough to win an argument, is not debate or discussion. It is simply meme and insult hurling. The meme that got me this morning came from a Trump supporter (identified by other frequent FB postings), basically calling the educated from Ivy League schools dumb for not agreeing with them on issues. It is the old "anti-pointy-headed" name-calling that has proved to be helpful in getting the vote of the less educated ever since Adlai Stevenson lost in the 1950s when I first became aware of politics. He was just too intellectual. Trump depends on less schooled and educated for his support. Self-interest usually underlies voters more than another element in motivating votes, which is my observation. However, there is room for rational discussion, particularly on public policy issues, if not on cultural, religious, and racial motivation. One of the greatest dividers in our current political climate is how much education a voter has, whether they have a college degree or not, if they are racially identified as white.
In college, you learn more about the past so you do not repeat the failures and mistakes of others, and you learn there are also two sides to most contentious issues and you can make comparisons and contrasts. Granted, it is so much easier to reproduce a meme and share it. It saves a person from learning about data and evidence. Education changes perspectives and gives a realization that things are not always as simple as they seem and that there may be unintended consequences.
Biden improved over Clinton among White non-college voters. White voters without a college degree were critical to Trump’s victory in 2016 when he won the group by 64% to 28%. In 2018, Democrats gained some ground with these voters, earning 36% of the White, non-college vote to Republicans’ 61%. In 2020, Biden roughly maintained the Democrats’ 2018 share among the group, improving Clinton’s 2016 performance by receiving the votes of 33%. But Trump’s share of the vote among this group – who represented 42% of the total electorate this year – was nearly identical to his vote share in 2016 (65%). Pew Research, source of figures. Biden's blue-collar background, the guy from Scranton, has made some inroads in the non-college-educated demographic, and you see him on the campaign trail now emphasizing his pro-union advocacy.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/06/30/behind-bidens-2020-victory/
- "Biden improved over Clinton among White non-college voters. White voters without a college degree were critical to Trump’s victory in 2016, when he won the group by 64% to 28%. In 2018, Democrats gained some ground with these voters, earning 36% of the White, non-college vote to Republicans’ 61%. In 2020, Biden roughly maintained Democrats’ 2018 share among the group, improving upon Clinton’s 2016 performance by receiving the votes of 33%. But Trump’s share of the vote among this group – who represented 42% of the total electorate this year – was nearly identical to his vote share in 2016 (65%)."
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