An interesting new study has found that those who attended graduate school over the past couple of decades are likely more liberal in their political thinking than their peers.
The Pew Research Center’s research revealed that the more educated you are, the more likely you are to hold liberal positions.
Pew’s study also disclosed that liberal views among those with a graduate education has increased in the last 20 years. Since 1994, individuals who hold consistently liberal views has increased 24 percent, and the percentage of those who have mostly liberal viewpoints has risen 23 percent.
There is reasoning behind the shift. While academia isn’t considered a utopia of liberal thinking, there generally aren’t too many who identify as wholly conservative. But with other professions such as those within the fields of healthcare and law, the shift has been steadily progressive.
As Republicans have slowly moved more towards the right and taken on positions that have been disproved by science, such as climate change and racial justice, many individuals with an advanced education believe in the application of learned science and education, which is why conservatism doesn’t match with their beliefs.
This study may also show why there is growing political polarization in America as many are retreating to their ideological corners. Education is surely a motivating factor in that movement, but because politics isn’t scientific and delves into arenas of emotion, we tend to stick with learned behavior.
That’s why the political lean of those with a graduate education isn’t terribly surprising as Democrats have positioned themselves as the party that welcomes the application of education and science into its political platform. That’s not to say that Republicans haven’t and will not, but they aren’t proclaiming science as a political bedrock and often portray themselves as traditionalists.
So if you’re headed to graduate school or are close to leaving it, know that your political position may already be predestined.
