The ladder, before and after

Dem share of two-party presidential vote by household income bracket. Left column is 2008; pick the comparison cycle. Hover any line for exact values.

Compare 2008 to

Blue slopes moved toward Democrats since 2008; red slopes moved toward Republicans. Weighted by weight_cumulative; brackets are nominal dollars. Source: CES cumulative file.

Five cycles, five rungs

Dem two-party share by income bracket, every presidential cycle. The endpoints of the ladder trade places.

Dotted line marks an even two-party split. Hover points for shares and sample sizes. Source: CES cumulative file, weighted.

The full ledger

Dem two-party share by bracket and cycle. Bars extend from 50%: blue right for a Democratic edge, red left for a Republican one.

Bottom row: $150k+ share minus <$30k share, in percentage points. Unweighted N per cell ranges from 1,634 to 11,291.

The rich, split by diploma

Dem two-party share among high-income voters, college graduates vs non-graduates, with the gap shaded.

High income = top harmonized CES income tercile. College = four-year degree or postgraduate. Hover for values and N. Source: CES cumulative file, weighted.

Who the Democratic coalition is made of

Each income × education cell’s weighted share of Democratic presidential voters, 2008 vs 2024.

Shares within voters reporting both income and education (N = 10,942 Dem voters in 2008; 21,814 in 2024). Source: CES cumulative file, weighted.

Card vs. diploma

Dem two-party share for the four union-household × college cells, 2012–2024. The crossing in 2016 is circled.

Union HH = someone in the household currently belongs to a union; never-union = no one ever has. Question not asked in 2008; 2024 “Not Sure” respondents (2,198) excluded. Source: CES cumulative file, weighted.