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The college-degree rate (number/1000) varies greatly among the states in the United States. (See table at end for 1996 rates.)
An interesting question to ask is: Is there any correlation between the college-degree rate and the strength of the two political parties in the states?
I compared different state's college-degree rate (CDR) data for 1996 with the results of the 1996 presidential election for each state. (See table at end for votes in the 1996 election.) A correlation calculation yielded the following:
| Correlation | Rate |
| Democrat vote | +0.223 |
| Republican vote | -0.265 |
That is, the Democratic votes for the states had a 22% positive correlation with increasing CDR and the Republican votes had a 27% negative correlation. States with high college-degree rate vote more Democratic than Republican and vice versa.
|
| This is a plot of the college-degree rate (CDR) sorted by rank of the states compared to the Democratic votes and the Republican votes. (See table at end for the data.) Also shown are linear fits to the two votes. This shows visually the positive correlation of CDR with the Democratic vote and the negative correlation with the Republican vote. Note the huge difference between the highest state (Wyoming with 33.5) and the lowest state (Alabama with 14.6). |
What can one conclude from these results? Whatever factors cause the large disparity for college-degree rates between the various states also cause those states to tend to vote Democratic.
My Republican native state, Oklahoma (rate=25.8), ranked 36 of 50 and my Republican adopted state, Virginia (rate=28.5), ranked 46 of 50 for increasing college-degree rate in 1996.
| U.S. College Degree Rate | 1996 election | |||
| State | % College Deg. | Democrat | Republican | Rank |
| Alabama | 14.6 | 53.7% | 36.8% | 1 |
| Alaska | 14.7 | 51.5% | 36.8% | 2 |
| Arizona | 16.2 | 41.6% | 47.1% | 3 |
| Arkansas | 17.1 | 48.0% | 45.6% | 4 |
| California | 17.6 | 45.8% | 44.9% | 5 |
| Colorado | 18.1 | 52.0% | 39.9% | 6 |
| Connecticut | 19.2 | 44.0% | 49.8% | 7 |
| Delaware | 19.3 | 43.2% | 50.1% | 8 |
| Florida | 19.4 | 33.6% | 52.2% | 9 |
| Georgia | 19.5 | 46.5% | 44.3% | 10 |
| Hawaii | 19.9 | 43.9% | 42.9% | 11 |
| Idaho | 20 | 51.6% | 30.8% | 12 |
| Illinois | 20.1 | 43.0% | 46.5% | 13 |
| Indiana | 20.5 | 40.1% | 46.9% | 14 |
| Iowa | 20.5 | 40.4% | 48.3% | 15 |
| Kansas | 20.9 | 44.1% | 49.2% | 16 |
| Kentucky | 21 | 51.7% | 38.5% | 17 |
| Louisiana | 21.3 | 35.0% | 53.7% | 18 |
| Maine | 21.5 | 47.4% | 41.0% | 19 |
| Maryland | 21.7 | 48.0% | 42.3% | 20 |
| Massachusetts | 21.7 | 50.3% | 39.9% | 21 |
| Michigan | 22.2 | 36.8% | 49.8% | 22 |
| Minnesota | 22.3 | 45.8% | 47.0% | 23 |
| Mississippi | 22.4 | 43.8% | 48.8% | 24 |
| Missouri | 22.4 | 48.8% | 38.5% | 25 |
| Montana | 22.5 | 56.9% | 31.6% | 26 |
| Nebraska | 22.6 | 44.0% | 48.7% | 27 |
| Nevada | 22.9 | 47.5% | 41.2% | 28 |
| New Hampshire | 22.9 | 49.2% | 40.0% | 29 |
| New Jersey | 23.6 | 49.2% | 41.9% | 30 |
| New Mexico | 23.7 | 53.4% | 31.1% | 31 |
| New York | 24.3 | 47.2% | 39.1% | 32 |
| North Carolina | 25 | 54.3% | 36.8% | 33 |
| North Dakota | 25.2 | 41.3% | 44.1% | 34 |
| Ohio | 25.7 | 59.7% | 26.8% | 35 |
| Oklahoma | 25.8 | 58.3% | 30.0% | 36 |
| Oregon | 26.1 | 49.8% | 37.3% | 37 |
| Pennsylvania | 26.7 | 33.3% | 54.4% | 38 |
| Rhode Island | 26.8 | 51.8% | 36.6% | 39 |
| South Carolina | 27 | 49.6% | 39.6% | 40 |
| South Dakota | 27.5 | 33.3% | 50.8% | 41 |
| Tennessee | 27.5 | 51.1% | 38.2% | 42 |
| Texas | 27.5 | 36.1% | 54.3% | 43 |
| Utah | 28 | 45.1% | 47.1% | 44 |
| Vermont | 28.3 | 51.1% | 35.0% | 45 |
| Virginia | 28.5 | 53.7% | 35.9% | 46 |
| Washington | 28.9 | 44.4% | 45.8% | 47 |
| West Virginia | 30 | 52.8% | 34.7% | 48 |
| Wisconsin | 32.2 | 54.3% | 38.3% | 49 |
| Wyoming | 33.5 | 61.5% | 28.1% | 50 |
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