Why are more educated people (at least in TX) liberal?

[LivingLikeAGradStudent]

People who are more educated have demonstrated that they like to learn. And some (not all) of that learning might be in contrast to family-based lessons growing up. Since Texas is a family-based state, those who move beyond that perspective might see things from a larger-picture point of view.

[GClark]

Originally Posted by austinguy2009

Especially with social issues.

I understand economic conservatism - there are plenty of good arguments for that.

But social backwardness - why is this mainly the province of less educated people, and the more educated one is the more likely they are accepting of gays etc?

To take a very crude example compare UT and A&M. A&M is less prestigious, easier to be admitted, and not as rigorous academically as UT Austin, and the student bodies are about as opposite politically as is possible.

Also Rice tends to be quite liberal.

Maybe it's just intelligence that is the deciding factor and education serves as a useful proxy (this makes sense in light of the A&M vs. UT example).

The answer is simple. Colleges are chocked full of liberal professors and their liberal beliefs bleed into their teaching. If you want to talk about sheeple, consider the liberal students coming out of liberal teaching colleges.

[victorianbybirth]

Austinguy2009 stated "My question is why do smart/educated people tend to be socially liberal - i.e. not harbor bigoted feelings towards racial minorities or gays? Of course there are many uneducated members of the democratic party, and uneducated liberals."...

Maybe this is the point where very educated people & very stupid people meet.

Calling most African Americans uneducated is not very compassionate & open minded either. I guess you don't care about the general PC crap, just they specific PC crap about gays & religion. Which tells me you are a gay that is resentful towards religion because you believe you are not accepted by the religion. You need to manage that chip that's residing on your shoulder, not drag the rest of us into to it to assuage your hurt feelings by intimating you are superior to us conservatives. I am a conservative who could frankly give a good Goddamn about where you hide your salami. Unfortuantely, that is not good enough for you, you insist that we (collective) must embrace your gayness & stamp it with a seal of approval. Good luck with that. My suggestion for you would be to lose the chip, deal with whatever insecurities YOU have with your lifestyle & live happily ever after. After all, the only person with any real control over your life is you. Why would you lower yourself to even care what the uneducated masses think of you anyway?

[Bund]

The only reason UT edges out A&M a little bit is that UT receives more money from the state.

[afoigrokerkok]

In my experience, most Texans who are more educated are actually more conservative than those who aren't.

And, if you'd look at UT, I'm pretty sure that politically, more students there are republicans than democrats. Austin is pretty liberal - don't get me wrong. But I would be very surprised if UT students were MAJORITY democrat/liberal. You're right that A & M is much more red though.