Smart People Don’t Like Me, and the Polling Proves It

In one of his rare moments of candor, Donald Trump once told a crowd, “Smart people don’t like me.” Recent polling suggests he was, for once, telling the truth.

According to Pew Research, voters with at least a bachelor’s degree leaned Democratic by 55% to 42%. Among those with postgraduate degrees, the gap widened to 61% to 37%. Exit polls in 2024 showed the same divide: college-educated voters tilted toward Kamala Harris, while non-college voters went firmly for Trump.

The trend is so consistent that analysts have given it a name, the “diploma divide.” In short, the more time voters spend in classrooms, the less likely they are to vote Republican. Conversely, the fewer degrees collected, the more enthusiastic the support for slogans printed on red hats.

This reality has not gone unnoticed among Trump’s base. One supporter was recently quoted asking, “Why do college-educated people vote Democrat?”, apparently unaware that the question answers itself.

Republicans have long celebrated their distrust of academia as a badge of authenticity. Universities, they argue, are hotbeds of liberal indoctrination. Critics suggest they may simply be places where facts are difficult to ignore.

Still, Trump and his allies appear unfazed. Their strategy remains focused on courting voters who believe socialism means free Wi-Fi and fascism is just a fancy liberal insult. For them, the “smart people” are overrated, inconvenient, even.

Whether this widening education gap is sustainable for democracy is another question. But in the short term, it leaves the GOP proudly embracing the role of the party that does not need college graduates to survive.

Trump said it himself: “Smart people don’t like me.” The numbers only confirm it.