Date of Award
2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Social Sciences
First Advisor
Reilly, Jack
Area of Concentration
Political Science
Abstract
It is increasingly common in American political discourse to point to educational attainment as a major driver of American voters’ political polarization. Therefore, it is worth explaining foundational public opinion tenets, before diving into precursor questions such as “what is political polarization?” and “is political polarization a bad thing?”. The main focus of the literature review is the extent to which political polarization among American voters is either associated with or caused by their education attainment. Participation and race as explanatory variables is also discussed afterwards. Last, a pre-data collection hypothesis, research design methods, and relevant data are analyzed and interpreted in the final subsection. The data and analysis demonstrates that, while political polarization is increasingly associated, in part, with voters’ educational attainment, it is unlikely that educational attainment plays a causal role in political polarization.
Recommended Citation
Sobel, Jack, "DEGREES OF SEPARATION: The Extent to Which American Voters Are Polarized Based On Their Educational Attainment" (2023). Theses & ETDs. 6431.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/6431