Do democrats have a higher level of education
Executive summary
Yes—by multiple reputable measures Democrats as a group today are more likely than Republicans to include college graduates, but the relationship is complex: the Democratic coalition is more college-educated on average (especially among whites and among voters overall in recent years), while education-based partisan divides have shifted over time and vary by race, gender and degree level [1] [2] [3].
1. The headline: Democrats contain a higher share of college graduates
Large surveys and demographic breakdowns show Democratic voters are more likely to hold college degrees than Republican voters: analyses of recent election coalitions find Democrats “more likely to possess college degrees” on average in 2022, and Pew’s breakdowns show college-educated voters tilt toward Democrats while non‑college voters lean Republican [1] [3].
2. How that shift developed: the diploma divide over two decades
Researchers documenting the “diploma divide” trace a reversal that began around 2000: college‑educated Americans, especially whites, have trended toward Democrats while non‑college voters have drifted Republican, producing an education‑based polarization in voting patterns over the last 15–20 years [4] [2].
3. Race and gender change the picture significantly
The educational composition advantage for Democrats is not uniform across groups: Democrats now dominate among white college graduates and maintain strong advantages among Black, Hispanic and Asian voters, and the growth inside the Democratic coalition has included a rising share of college‑educated women—factors that concentrate higher degree attainment within the party [5] [6] [2].
4. Nuance: degree level and internal splits matter
Not all degree bands point the same way—voters with a bachelor’s degree but no graduate degree are more evenly divided (Pew finds roughly 51% Democratic to 46% Republican among that group), and graduate‑degree clusters skew more Democratic, so how one slices “education” changes the conclusion [3].
5. Public trust on education issues is related but distinct
Being more college‑educated does not automatically translate into uniform issue advantages: historically Democrats have enjoyed voter confidence on “education issue handling,” but polls since 2022 show mixed signals—some surveys report Republicans gaining ground or even a slight advantage on school‑related politics in certain samples—meaning educational composition and public perceptions of who “handles education better” are related but separate phenomena [7] [8].
6. Political consequences and internal tensions
Scholars warn the rise of college‑educated Democrats has reshaped party priorities and created tensions: some analyses argue that an increasingly educated, and whiter, donor and activist core within the Democratic coalition affects policy emphasis and could alienate some working‑class constituencies, an implicit agenda point raised by critics at the Manhattan Institute and others [2].
7. What the sources do and do not prove
The reporting and research provided consistently document that Democrats today include a higher share of college‑educated voters and that educational polarization has increased; they do not, however, establish a single causal mechanism that explains every local or demographic variation, and available sources show important exceptions by race, gender and degree level rather than a universal rule [1] [4] [3].
8. Bottom line
Measured across national surveys and demographic studies, Democrats do have a higher level of educational attainment on average—especially driven by college‑educated white voters and by growth in college‑educated women—yet the story is conditional: the diploma divide varies by subgroup, degree type, and political question, and recent polling suggests advantages on education policy questions can ebb and flow independent of the parties’ educational profiles [1] [6] [7] [8].