A new report, titled 'The Left’s Coalition Crisis: Understanding the Massive Divide Between Working Class and College Educated Voters, and How to Bridge it', indicates a substantial class divide within the Democratic party. The report, from Jared Abbott of the Center for Working Class Politics and Joan Williams, suggests that many ideological factions of the party are composed almost exclusively of college-educated professionals, leading their priorities to dominate.
The research, based on an original survey, explored attitude gaps between the broad working class (non-college educated, middle-income workers) and the liberal upper middle class (Democratic-leaning college graduates with household income in the top 25%). It found that working-class respondents overwhelmingly prioritise economic issues, with 11 of their top 12 political priorities being economic concerns. In contrast, educated upper-income respondents rated cultural and symbolic issues above economic concerns, with only six of their top 12 priorities being economic.
The largest gaps identified were across culture, climate, crime, and immigration issues. The authors also note that college graduates in Europe and the United States show more bias against the less-educated than against racial, religious, and sexual minorities.