Thoughts on educational attainment and voting patterns at the state level:
The percentage of a state's population with a bachelor's-plus does not correlate nearly as strongly with estimated IQ scores based on NAEP data (.46) as the percentage of a state's population with less than a high school education (.72) does. The prolish behavior HS detests might be better indicated by the less than high school percentage than by the bachelor-plus number, depending on where the cutoff is*. Both measures include similar proportions of the population (19.6% of the population over 25 years of age has less than a high school diploma, while 24.4% has a bachelor's-plus). Taking the bachelor-plus percentage by state, subtracting the less than high school education percentage from it, and multiplying by 100 for ease of viewing, creates a simple educational attainment index by state that more fully accounts for not just the right side of a state's educational distribution, but the entire thing:
1. Colorado -- 19.62. Massachusetts -- 18.03. New Hampshire -- 16.14. Vermont -- 15.85. Connecticut -- 15.4 ... 46. Louisiana -- (6.5)47. Arkansas -- (8.0)48. Kentucky -- (8.8)49. West Virginia -- (10.0)50. Mississippi -- (10.2)
To see the full list, read the whole thing. Do remember though that between state trends do not necessarily translate into within state trends. Even within state trends do not translate to locality level trends. Consider the fact that the Democratic areas of New York state are the wealthiest on a coarse scale, but within Manhattan the more Republican precincts are in the wealthiest district (the Upper East Side). Related:Conservatives are as smart as liberals.
