Trump overwhelmingly leads rivals in support from less educated Americans (2016)
www.pbs.org

... Trump overwhelmingly leads his rivals for support among the less educated, and draws more modest backing from college graduates and those with postgraduate study, according to exit polls conducted for the Associated Press and television networks by Edison Research. ...

Among America's "Low-Information Voters" (August 2024)
www.newyorker.com

... Monica Sheppard lives in Rome, Georgia, where she runs a bee-themed arts-and-crafts shop. Rome is a right-leaning town in the rural, poor, and intensely conservative northwest corner of the state. Education rates are low, and mainstream news does not easily take root. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who became the district's congresswoman in 2021, was elected in part because, for many voters, identifying with the QAnon conspiracy theory, as she'd recently done, was less troubling than identifying with the Times. ...

Going back to the topic of this thread ...

Why educate people only to have them vote against you because of that education?

US Has Dropped from 1st to 24th Worldwide in Education Since 1979?
www.snopes.com

... Then-President Jimmy Carter founded the Department of Education in 1979.

Rating: Unfounded

On Nov. 11, 2024, X owner Elon Musk posted an image (archived) of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter that was captioned: "In 1979 I created the Department of Education. Since then America went from 1st to 24th in education."

Musk wrote in his post, which had amassed more than 64 million views and 613,000 likes as of this writing: "Not exactly great value for money!"

In short, there is no single definitive scale that determines the ranking of nations' education quality worldwide, though several organizations have published their own assessments. Snopes was unable to track down an assessment that found the U.S. specifically ranked 24th worldwide. Musk's post also did not specify several key items, such as which year the U.S. was in 24th place or which assessments the claim referred to. Therefore, we have rated this claim as unfounded.

Snopes contacted Musk and the Department of Education seeking evidence regarding the claim and will update this story if we receive a response.

As of This Writing, Does the US Rank 24th Worldwide?

Various organizations have reached different conclusions, but Snopes did not track down any significant survey, report or analysis that found the U.S. ranked 24th worldwide in education in 2024.

For example, U.S. News ranked the U.S. as first in its widely-cited 2024 Best Countries report, which reportedly surveyed the views of "close to 17,000 global citizens." ...

So, it seems, just another MAGA alternative universe lie.