About the Analysis
CGCN’s October 2025 analysis examines what it calls the “secession of the successful”: a widening political, economic, and cultural divide between affluent, highly educated communities and poorer, working-class districts. Using census, district health, campaign-finance, education, and newsroom-demographic data, the memo argues that wealthier districts increasingly align with Democrats while Republicans are assembling a broader working-class coalition. It compares income, unemployment, opioid deaths, firearm homicides, high-school completion, life expectancy, fundraising, and elite-university representation, then considers how those differences shape political values, media coverage, and the parties’ future coalitions.