Kamala Harris attracts college-educated voters in record numbers (ABC)
Kamala Harris is on track to to win White college graduates by the largest margin in recorded history, according to reports yesterday at multiple news outlets. Citing the work of CNN data analyst Henry Enten, this is from a report at Mediaite:
CNN’s data analyst Harry Enten presented some big numbers in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris that pointed to a potentially historic margin.
In a segment about 2024 election voters with college degrees, Enten told anchor John Berman that Harris was on track to win the largest margin of voters with college degrees in recorded history, seeing numbers that outdid the two most recent Democratic presidential candidates -- former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden. But it was Harris’s gains with White college voters that were particularly notable to Enten:
Enten: Let’s start with White college grads, because White college grads have been this group that have been moving further and further to the left. Alright, this is the Democratic margin among White college grads. Look, Hillary Clinton won ’em by five points. Then Joe Biden won ’em by nine. Look at this margin that Kamala Harris is pulling up in the polls right now among White college grads. It’s an 18-point margin, double the margin that Joe Biden had just four years ago.
Enten: I went back through the record books. This would be the largest win for a Democratic presidential candidate among White college grads in recorded history. That is all the way back since the early 1950s. You could probably go back even further. But the bottom line is that Kamala Harris amongst this group is doing ridiculously, ridiculously well. And it’s one of the main reasons that she has been able to counter Donald Trump’s rising support among voters without a college degree. It’s because she’s doing very well among White voters with a college degree.
Berman: What about all voters, not just White voters?
Enten: All right. So we looked at White voters with a college degree. How about all voters with a college degree? It’s basically the same story. It’s historically high support for a Democratic candidate. You see right now, Kamala Harris leads in the polls by 21 points with college-educated voters. That’s three points higher than Joe Biden did four years ago, at six points higher than Hillary Clinton did eight years ago. The bottom line is this, Mr. Berman, the electorate is becoming more polarized along education. And Democrats, at least among those with a college degree, are the beneficiaries of it. And Kamala Harris is doing historically well for a Democrat among voters with a college degree.
Berman then brought up another part of the equation — how many voters have college degrees? Enten had those numbers too.
Enten: So, this is the second part, the key nugget here. An increasing share of the electorate — you know, you go back 44 years ago, just 21 percent of the electorate had a college degree. You go back 24 years ago, 31 percent. You go back four years ago, you’re up to 40 percent. This year, it looks like a historically high proportion of the electorate, 41 percent will have a college degree. You know who those voters are, they’re in the suburbs of places like Philadelphia, of Detroit. You go obviously to Madison, Wisconsin, right? A rising tide. More and more voters with a college degree. It’s what flipped the great state, and part of what flipped the great state of Georgia, right? Those voters with a college degree in the suburbs of Atlanta.
This is a big reason Kamala Harris is still running a tight race right now, because even though she [is] losing a little bit of support among voters without a college degree, she’s gaining rapidly among those with a college degree, specifically White voters with a college degree. Either way, you look at it, historically high support at this particular point.
Berman: So, put it in one sentence: More voters than ever with a college degree, she’s doing better than ever with voters with a college degree. Enten replied: That's exactly right, Mr. Berman.
