QUESTION: But why would Democratic votes break down so starkly along educational lines?<\/p>\n
DR. RETAIL: The consumer marketplace has been bifurcating for years! It\u2019s happening because the educated and uneducated lead different sorts of lives. Educated people are not only growing richer than less-educated people, but their lifestyles are diverging as well. A generation ago, educated families and less-educated families looked the same, but now high school graduates divorce at twice the rate of college graduates. High school grads are much more likely to have kids out of wedlock. High school grads are much more likely to be obese. They\u2019re much more likely to smoke and to die younger.<\/p>\n
Their attitudes are different. High school grads are much less optimistic than college grads. They express less social trust. They feel less safe in public. They report having fewer friends and lower aspirations. The less educated speak the dialect of struggle; the more educated, the dialect of self-fulfillment<\/p>\n
Did you hear the message of Clinton\u2019s speech Tuesday night? It\u2019s a rotten world out there. Regular folks are getting the shaft. They need someone who\u2019ll fight tougher, work harder and put loyalty over independence.<\/p>\n
Then did you see the Hopemeister\u2019s speech? His schtick makes sense if you\u2019ve got a basic level of security in your life, if you\u2019re looking up, not down. Meanwhile, Obama\u2019s people are so taken with their messiah that soon they\u2019ll be selling flowers at airports and arranging mass weddings. There\u2019s a \u201cYes We Can\u201d\u009d video floating around YouTube in which a bunch of celebrities like Scarlett Johansson and the guy from the Black Eyed Peas are singing the words to an Obama speech in escalating states of righteousness and ecstasy. If that video doesn\u2019t creep out normal working-class voters, then nothing will.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Your cynicism is really interfering with my vibe. I don\u2019t think you\u2019re feeling the fierce urgency of now.<\/p>\n