UF study: Education best predicted support for gay marriage ban

[FreeState]

UF study: Education best predicted support for gay marriage ban
The study found education level was five times more important than race.


By Nathan Crabbe
Staff writer

The education level of Florida voters, not race, best predicted support for the state's gay marriage ban, according to a new University of Florida study rebutting conventional wisdom.

The study found education was about five times as important as race in determining whether a county's residents favored the ban. The results contradict claims that newly registered black voters who cast ballots for Barack Obama were a socially conservative group that can be credited with passing the ban.

"They are movable in terms of this issue," said Dan Smith, a political science professor and study co-author.

Nearly 62 percent of Florida voters cast ballots in favor of Amendment 2, which amended the state constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and woman. At the same time, about 51 percent of the state's voters supported Obama in the presidential election.

Controlling for political and socioeconomic factors, the study found each additional 1 percent of a county's population with bachelor's degrees correlated with a 1 percent decrease in support for the amendment. In comparison, each 1 percent increase in a county's black population led to two-tenths of a percent increase in support.

"There's a lot of evidence showing increased education leads to greater tolerance," Smith said....

More at above at the link

[Hello_Kitty]

1. Well there ya go.

Can we put the stupid race meme to rest, finally?

[FreeState]

2. I think it needs to be used as a rally cry for educational reform

the GLBT community should be working with minorities of all stripes on legislation and programs to ensure that all people are afforded a higher education and finish High School regardless of their socio-ecconomic and ethnic backgrounds.

See Minorities in Higher Education Twenty-Second Annual Status Report 2007: http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=CAREE&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=23716

HIGH SCHOOL COMPLETION

• In the 10-year period between 1993–95 and 2003–05, Hispanic students showed the largest increase in high school completion (HSC) rates,5 increasing by 9 percentage points to stand at 66 percent. This increase was driven by Hispanic women whose high school completion rates increased 11 percentage points to 72 percent. However, the HSC rate of Hispanics continues to lag behind both whites and African Americans.


• White and African-American male high school completion rates remained relatively unchanged between 1993–95 and 2003–05. Hispanic males’ high school completion rate increased 4 percentage points to 60 percent.

COLLEGE PARTICIPATION

• The college participation rate for all 18- to 24-year-old students increased by 4 percentage points in the 10-year period between 1993–95 and 2003–05 to 46 percent.


• From 1993–95 to 2003–05, the college partici- pation rate for men increased by only 2 percent- age points, while for women, it increased by 6 percentage points.

COLLEGE ENROLLMENT

• In the 10-year period between 1994 and 2004, minority enrollment in higher education rose by 49 percent, to total more than 4.8 million students, while white students during the same period increased by 6 percent, to total 10.6 mil- lion students.


• From 1994 to 2004, growth in Hispanic enroll- ment led all racial/ethnic groups, increasing by 67 percent or nearly 674,000 students. The larg- est growth took place at four-year institutions, where Hispanic enrollment rose by 73 percent, compared with a 63 percent increase at two-year institutions.


• The largest percentage increase in enrollment occurred at private for-profit institutions. Between 1994 and 2004, enrollment at these institutions increased 275 percent to total 880,000 students.

DEGREES CONFERRED: ASSOCIATE, BACHELOR’S, AND MASTER’S

• The number of degrees conferred at the asso- ciate, bachelor’s, and master’s degree levels rose by more than 100,000 at each level from 1994–95 to 2004–05. The fastest rate of growth occurred at the master’s degree level for both white and minority students. From 1994–95 and 2004–05, whites earned 25 percent more master’s degrees, while minorities earned 118 percent more mas- ter’s degrees.

DEGREES CONFERRED: PROFESSIONAL AND DOCTORAL DEGREES

• The number of professional and doctoral degrees conferred increased from 1994–95 to 2004–05, up by 14 percent for professional degrees and 20 percent for doctoral degrees. The growth in both degree categories occurred despite declines in the number of professional and doctoral degrees earned by white males.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. this should come as no surprise to anyone

[Divine Discontent]

4. and on this website, at least, after all the updates & posts over the past year

it is no surprise. I was very angry at California voters for proposition h8, and from what I saw initially it showed that blacks supported taking the right to marry away - it is probably very very likely based on this university's research in FL, that the same issue was at play in California - it wasn't the color - it was the education.

Great OP.

K&R!

[MNBrewer]

5. Thus proving the idea that education is evil.

:sarcasm:

[ShadowLiberal]

6. Which must be why the GOP is angry that Obama wants to encourage our kids to learn!

:sarcasm:

But really, it's not surprising that education is a predictor of this. I've read that studies have shown that there's a fairly strong correlation between how educated you are (based on high school graduate, what college degree you got, etc) and if you're a liberal or not. The more educated are more likely to be liberals, and the less educated are more likely to be conservatives, I think that's especially likely to be true on social issues.