Obama's Appeal to Well-Educated Not Conducive to Winning Nomination [View All]

[wyldwolf]

From Gallup:

Barack Obama's support is higher among college-educated Democrats than among those who did not attend college, while Hillary Clinton performs best among the non-college educated set. Such differentiation of preferences along educational lines has been common in Democratic nomination contests of the past two decades. However, Michael Dukakis is the only candidate that appealed more to well-educated than less-educated Democrats who won the nomination.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is a clear second place behind New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, but he is highly competitive with Clinton among the most educated segment of the party. That appeal may be one reason he has met or surpassed Clinton's fundraising totals despite not gaining much ground in voter support this year -- well-educated Americans tend to have greater income.

An analysis of historical Gallup Poll data on rank-and-file Democrats' nomination preferences shows that at least one candidate has exhibited a pattern similar to Obama's education skew in each election cycle since 1988, but that candidate usually does not end up winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28414