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Education weakens the historical link between income and partisanship across democracies,
challenging classical models of political economy. Using administrative data on
millions of voters exposed to discontinuities in compulsory schooling laws and college
admissions in Florida and California, I show that both the extensive margin of years of
high school education and the intensive margin of college selectivity can reduce Republican
Party affiliation. Effects generalize across generations (1969 to present), settings,
and institutions. Results are consistent with peer socialization shaping sociocultural
attitudes alongside career-path mechanisms, rather than deliberate instructor-driven
persuasion.
