Did political analyst, Larry Sabato ever say "The higher the education level, the more likely they are to vote Democratic."?

Question

According to an Politifact article, Is education level tied to voting tendencies?, political analyst, Larry Sabato said:

"The higher the education level, the more likely they are to vote Democratic." — Larry Sabato on Tuesday, October 16th, 2012 in an article

There are numerous references other online references with the same quote. All the references I have found quotes the date (Tuesday, October 16th, 2012) and the statement but never quotes the actual article source.

Did Larry Sabato actually say this?

Downvoter, can you please explain what is wrong with the question and how it can be improved? — Abhijit, Nov 01 '15 at 10:48
I don't know why it was downvoted, but I wonder if it is because there is little reason for doubt here. The idea that he said it is a fairly prosaic claim. The Politifact article discusses how they actually asked Sabato to substantiate the quote, and he did so, in a way that they conclude is "Mostly True". Why wouldn't you provisionally accept this rather prosaic claim as true, given the substantial evidence you've already discovered? — Oddthinking, Nov 01 '15 at 11:32
@Oddthinking: I think I should had been more clear. I am never disapproving the fact . I only want to substantiate the claim that Mr. Sabato has ever quoted it. I was trying to find substantial references but could not find a reliable source. In fact all the references mentioned are of some article, the source that was never clarified. I just wanted to know if such a statement was ever stated by Larry Sabato. — Abhijit, Nov 01 '15 at 15:44
Understood. I think the Politifact article is good evidence that Sabato made the claim. They asked him "Why did you say that?" and he didn't reply "I never said that." He replied "I said that because of this evidence." — Oddthinking, Nov 02 '15 at 03:32
Related (and substantially disproving the claim - it's not linear relationship even without nuances like majors taken into account): http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/14983/do-non-educated-people-tend-more-to-the-right-conservative-political-wing/15030#15030 — user5341, Nov 02 '15 at 16:14
@Oddthinking - -1, because this appears like a question whose main purpose is to publicize the claim (instead of questioning it) and not genuine desire to find out useful facts. — user5341, Nov 02 '15 at 16:17
@user5341: This is too strong a statement, and without enough evidence (main purpose is to publicize the claim ) your accusation is offensive. — Abhijit, Nov 02 '15 at 18:34
@Abhijit - evidence was right there in my comment (and the question): instead of doing the trivial task of finding that the claim is correctly attributed (simple Google search); and asking if the statement is valid, your question assumes that it's valid (or at least not in need of questioning) yet asks for (1) irrelevant; and (2) trivially answerable - attribution. — user5341, Nov 02 '15 at 18:49

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 01 '15 at 11:28

He was directly quoted as saying it in the original article White voters solidly in for GOP in Georgia from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Oct. 16, 2012, by Aaron Gould Sheinin.

“I’m pretty sure, despite Atlanta, that Virginia’s educational level among whites is higher than Georgia,” said Larry Sabato, a national political expert at the University of Virginia. “It’s not income so much as it is education. The higher the education level, the more likely they are to vote Democratic.”

Any further confirmation that he was correctly quoted in that interview can only come from Mr Sabato or the journalist.

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 01 '15 at 11:25

Yes, the statement never references the article source; but however it appeared in the AJC (Atlanta Journal-Constituion) article on October 16, 2012:

White voters solidly in for GOP in Georgia - 7:06 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012 | Filed in: News

In the article, it quotes:

“I’m pretty sure, despite Atlanta, that Virginia’s educational level among whites is higher than Georgia,” said Larry Sabato, a national political expert at the University of Virginia. “It’s not income so much as it is education. The higher the education level, the more likely they are to vote Democratic.”

It is worth noting that Politifact collaborates with the AJC.

Did political analyst, Larry Sabato ever say "The higher the education level, the more likely they are to vote Democratic."?

2 Answers2