Education gap divides white voters

DODGE CITY, Kansas (AP) — At 18, Mike Smith chose trucking over college. Hauling cattle feed was lucrative for a teenager, and it seemed he could have a pretty good life without a degree. Now, 40 years later his income is stalled as immigrants pour into western Kansas and depress wages.

To Smith, Donald Trump seems like the only guy who can stop it.

"He speaks what's on his mind, to hell with the political correctness," Smith said. "If Hillary gets in, there will be more illegals."

Rachel Ong, 31, who has a master's degree in education, isn't convinced. She lives in the conservative and prosperous suburbs west of Kansas City and voted for Mitt Romney in 2012, but has concerns about Trump's style.

"Trump is really aggressive and it would really make me nervous if he was in office," she said.

The nomination of Donald Trump has opened up an educational divide among whites. Republicans have won a majority of white college graduates in every election since 1956 but the real estate mogul has accelerated movement of college educated voters toward Democrats.

Trump does best with whites who do not have a four-year college degree — he leads Clinton among that group 56-29 in the most recent AP/Gfk poll. Unlike Romney, who won with college graduates by six percentage points, Trump is losing to Clinton with that group 46-38.