Last night, CNN\u2019s William Schneider said Obama won Oregon because it\u2019s \u201cvery well educated state.\u201d Everyone talks as if there are two basic educational categories: high school graduates and college graduates, with the former going for Clinton and the latter for Obama.
\nActually, the real battle has been over a third group \u2013 one of the largest groups — those with some college education.
\nIn Oregon, this group was the largest category, representing 33% of the electorate. These are not people with doctorates in French literature. It includes some who are currently in college but just as important it includes those who attend community colleges and two year schools, or attended four years schools but couldn\u2019t finish, often for economic reasons. In Oregon, Obama won these voters, 55%-45%. And when he hasn’t won these voters, he’s tended to lose the election. (In Pennsylvania, which Clinton won, the “some college” voters represented 25% of the electorate and went 53%-47% for Clinton.)
\nYes, Obama has done well among the best educated and Clinton among the least educated \u2013 but Obama is winning because he has also done well among the crucial middle group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last night, CNN\u2019s William Schneider said Obama won Oregon because it\u2019s \u201cvery well educated state.\u201d Everyone talks as if there are two basic educational categories: high school graduates and college graduates, with the former going for Clinton and the latter for Obama. Actually, the real battle has been over a third group \u2013 one of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n