Educational Background Key Indicator of Immigration Views in UK, Study Finds

Rightwing movements are struggling to gain support among graduates as education emerges as the most important dividing line in British attitudes towards politics, diversity and immigration, research has found.

A study from the independent National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) found people with qualifications below A-level were more than twice as likely to support rightwing parties compared with those with qualifications above.

The Demographic Divides report says: “A person with no educational qualifications had around 2 times the odds of voting for either the Conservatives or Reform UK than someone with a university degree or higher. This is independent of other factors, including financial precarity, so those without a degree are more likely to support rightwing parties in the UK even after adjusting for their financial situation.

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The findings are to some extent mirrored in the US, where people with a high school education or lower were twice as likely as college graduates to support Donald Trump over Kamala Harris in 2024.

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Education divides attitudes on race, diversity and immigration more strongly in the UK than in the US, according to the study.

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When asked how far white people benefited from advantages in society that Black people did not have, 60% of people with a university or college degree in both countries said “a great deal” or “a fair amount”. Only 30% of those with qualifications below A-levels or less thought this in the UK, and 50% of high school graduates or lower in the US.

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