>It has created controversy, as witnessed by the replies it has
>generated, therefore it is controversial.
I am not sure why the results that were presented need to be terribly
controversial. Democratic supporters tend to be minority, older, poorer,
and less educated than their republican counterparts. I would suggest
(perhaps revealing my bias) that this is because the democratic party has
done more to protect the interests of disenfranchised groups. On the other
hand, the republican party leans toward favoring the wealthy and business
interest who are normatively better educated, white, and definition of
higher economic status.
Even if these broad generalizations are not the case generally, it is
certainly true that the stage has been set in this manner during this
presidential campaign. If this influenced voters, it makes sense that we
would find these demographic differences in the presidential vote.
It would be interesting to see the means presented previously with these
demographic characteristics controlled. I cannot imagine that there would
be differences. I do not believe anyone truly believes that party
affiliation somehow affects literacy. On the other hand, other
characteristics associated with literacy (education, economic status, age,
race) tend to influence party selection. Thus, I suggest that literacy
problems that manifest in ballots inherently favor republicans and in doing
so wholly disenfranchise a large number of already disadvantaged voters (my
partisan statement).
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