THE EDUCATION DIVIDE BEHIND THE POLITICAL RIGHT AND FAR RIGHT
Germany, the United States and Italy: education, functional skills, economic insecurity and the political demand for simple answers
There is a question that Western democracies increasingly need to confront, even if it is politically uncomfortable:
Why does the political right — and particularly the radical and far right — consistently attract a disproportionately large share of voters with lower levels of formal education?
The question becomes even more interesting when Germany, the United States and Italy are examined together.
The AfD in Germany, Donald Trump’s political movement in the United States, and the Italian right led by Fratelli d’Italia represent different political traditions. They cannot simply be placed in the same category. Yet their electorates display an important common characteristic: education has become a major political dividing line.
That does not mean that right-wing voters are stupid.
It does not mean that university graduates are intelligent.
And it certainly does not mean that political preferences can be explained by IQ.
The more serious question is whether lower educational attainment and weaker functional skills can increase vulnerability to political narratives that transform complex economic, social and geopolitical problems into simple explanations and simple enemies.
That is a much more important question for democracy.
GERMANY: THE AFD AND THE EDUCATIONAL DIVIDE
Germany provides one of the clearest examples.
The AfD has developed from a Eurosceptic protest party into a powerful radical-right force. Its electoral support is particularly significant among voters with lower levels of education.
Research on the German electorate has repeatedly identified education as an important dividing line.
The important point is not simply that some AfD voters have less education. The deeper issue is that the probability of supporting the AfD changes significantly across educational groups.