"Two decades ago, demographer Ruy Teixeira and journalist John B. Judis wrote The Emerging Democratic Majority, which posited educated professionals were defecting from the Republican Party to join with the Democrats’ base of racial minorities, union members, and the poor. After Barack Obama’s two election victories, the prophecy seemed to be at hand: a potential coalition with greater numbers than the GOP’s dwindling core of older white voters."

"Instead of racial polarization, the electorate has increasingly been defined by educational polarization. Democrats have gained college-educated white voters and lost nonwhite voters who lack college degrees. This shift has flipped the traditional assumptions about voter turnout upside-down."