Does education make voters more leftist or more rightist?: a West vs. East cross-regional analysis

Abstract

Education is one of the most important determinants of political preferences and voting behavior. However, the direction of this impact is not universal. In a less developed, post-communist polity like Romania, education is negatively correlated with support for the left. In a post-industrial democracy like France, increased education translates into more support for the moderate left (i.e., the "post-materialist" left, Socialists and Ecologists). We explain these differences as the joint effect of recent historical experiences and the current level of economic, social and political development of the two polities.