Data provided to me by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs from its most recent annual national survey of American foreign-policy attitudes tracks these patterns. College-educated Republicans, the survey found, were more likely than their counterparts without degrees to view globalization and trade in general and the North American Free Trade Agreement in particular as good for the U.S. But the share of college-educated Republicans expressing such favorable views has declined in recent years, and today it’s far lower than the proportion of college-educated Democrats who view trade positively.

On U.S. alliances, the data paint a similar picture. While more college-educated than non-college-educated Republicans believe NATO is essential, both groups were far more likely than Democrats at either education level to question its value. Both college-educated and non-college-educated Republicans were also much more likely to assert that U.S. security alliances benefit Europe more than America. Similarly, college-educated Republicans view immigration more favorably than those without degrees, but not as favorably as Democrats. Looking across all these attitudes, Kabaservice, now the director of political studies at the center-right Niskanen Center, concludes that “very deep in the Republican id is this sense that we don’t need the rest of the world.”