Literacy And Politics

Every year, Central Connecticut State University compiles a ranking of the most literate American cities with a population of 250,000 or more. In the 2007 rankings, Minneapolis edged out Seattle to be named most literate American city. Seattle had been first in 2005 and 2006.

The 69 ranked cities were judged in six catagories -- newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and internet resources. The top ten cities were:

1.Minneapolis
2.Seattle
3.St. Paul

4.Denver
5.Washington
6.St. Louis
7.San Francisco
8.Atlanta
9.Pittsburgh
10.Boston

But the thing I found most interesting was their analysis of literacy and politics. They took the top 15 cities that voted for Bush in the last presidential election and the top 15 cities that voted for Kerry. It turns out there is a significant difference between the Republican cities and the Democratic cities.

The Democratic cities were rated higher in 5 of the 6 catagories. When all six catagories were considered, the Democratic cities had an average ranking of 27. The average ranking of the Republican cities was 51.

According to this survey, if a city's literacy ranking is high they will most likely vote Democratic. If a city's literacy ranking is low they will most likely vote Republican.

That's not really a surprise is it?