CEL on CNN's Smerconish
Monday, September 29, 2025
Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Co-Director Alan Wiseman of Vanderbilt University was a guest on CNN’s Smerconish to discuss the published paper “On the Decline of Elite-Educated Republicans in Congress” and the educational divide in American politics. Professor Wiseman coauthored the paper with CEL Co-Director Craig Volden and Associate Professor Jonathan Wai of the University of Arkansas, and it was published in the academic journal Perspectives on Politics.
In the segment, Professor Wiseman explains how members of Congress in both parties attended elite universities in roughly equal numbers 50 years ago. However, while the percentage of Democratic members to have attended these institutions have remined largely consistent, the attendance of Republican members has steeply declined. He goes on to talk about whether this affects party vote shares and the types of candidates that are recruited for office, as well as lawmaking effectiveness and ideological polarization in Congress.
Professor Wiseman and the CEL are pleased to once again have this opportunity to discuss the paper and its connection to changes in Congress and American politics more broadly.
To watch the segment, go here. You can also listen to Professor Wiseman’s guest spot on host Michael Smerconish’s podcast from earlier this month where he goes into further details about this subject matter.
To see the paper in full, go here.
