Educated voters have switched their political leanings from right to left. Rich ones remain conservative.

An interesting analysis of the relationship between demography and ideology co-authored by economists Thomas Picketty, Amory Gethin and Clara Martinez-Toledano reveals that in 21 western democracies voters with the most years of schooling and education have gravitated towards left wing parties. Their research found that in 1970 right-of-centre parties were supported by the highest earning and most educated voters whereas left-of-centre parties were supported by lower earning and less educated voters. As educational attainment spread, the situation changed so that by 2010 right-of-centre parties had more support from higher earning and less educated voters and left-of-centre parties had more support from lower earning and more educated voters.

A personal explanation of this might be that voters with assets and high incomes along with the less knowledgeable and inward looking will seek to protect their wealth and perceive imaginery external threats so will tend to support populist and protectionist parties whilst the more educated and those with a broader outlook on life will give consideration to the logic of spreading wealth to the benefit of mankind and will support more egalitarian social democratic parties.

This is a brief summary of an article published in The Economist in May 2021.