Somewheres & Anywheres
24th November 2022
Broadly speaking, the recent electoral tremors have been based on an education split, graduates voting for the status quo, non-graduates seeking to overturn it. In Brexit, 29 of the 30 areas with the highest proportion of graduates voted Remain, while the cohort overall split 57%-43% compared to 48%-52% for the country as a whole. Hilary Clinton won graduates by 11% while losing non-graduates by 7%. By the 2020 election, the gap had widened to 14% and 15% respectively. In the recent French election, there was an almost linear relationship between education level and voting, with President Macron winning the run-off votes of 78% of higher degree-holders, 63% of degree-holders, 53% of those with a baccalaureate, but just 44% of those with no qualifications.
The commentator David Goodhart attempted to explain these data by introducing the notion of “Anywheres” and “Somewheres”. The former are those who do well at school, go to good universities before progressing to well-paying jobs in big cities or overseas. The latter, leaving school with few or no qualifications, find the university route blocked so are forced into low-paying jobs in their hometowns with little or no opportunity for progression. The modern globalised world works for “Anywheres”. It does not for “Somewheres”. To Goodhart, Brexit and the other political upheavals of recent years represent an attempted revolution by a group who finds itself in a world which no longer caters to its needs.