Poll Proves DC Elites Totally Out of Touch With Reality of Good, Hard-Workin' 'Mericans…

Politico has a poll out that compares responses from real Americans (non-DC "elites") and fake Americans (DC elites). The results include:

Only 27 percent [of 1,011 adults polled nationwide] believe the country is headed in the right direction, compared with 61 percent who think the nation is on the wrong track. Likewise, when asked whether the national economy is heading down the right or wrong track, just 24 percent chose the right track, compared with65 percent for the wrong track.

Yet among the 227 Washington elites polled, more think the country is on the right track, 49 percent, than the wrong track, 45 percent. On the economy, 44 percent of elites think the country is on the right track, compared with 46 percent who believe it is not.

To qualify as a DC elite, you had to live in the DC area, pull in $75,000 or more a year, have a college degree or more, and work in some sort of political or public policy career. There are areas of overlap (health care) but mostly divergent views on the people, policies, and topics in play.

More here.

Full poll results here (pdf).

In a related story at Politico, Jim Vandehei and Zachary Abramson suggest one reason for the divergence is that DC, now the country's wealthiest metro region, is a boomtown compared to the rest of the country.

In May, unemployment in metro Washington hit 6 percent — an uptick from April's rate for the area but well below the national average of 9.5 percent and far milder than the May rates of the shattered manufacturing towns of the Midwest, including Flint, Mich. (at 14.7 percent), Elkhart, Ind. (at 13.7 percent) and Rockford, Ill. (at 13.9 percent).

Comments

[Legate Damar]

and work in some sort of political or public policy career.

Thank Rand for that last requirement, or I would have qualified.

[Logan]

You're just a regular elite.

[dave b.]

Is there a job in DC that's not political or public policy? Restauranteur, maybe?

[hmm]

Call girl/boy?

[Ska]

Don't forget coke dealer.

[Ted S.]

Washington Redskins.

[Legate Damar]

Not DC proper, but DC area. I'm an engineer. What's troublesome is that I'm looking for a new job and the position I hold is apparently the only non-computer engineering job in the region.

[gaijin]

Is it surprising really? I'd be curious to know if the results from DC have ever suggested the country is on the wrong path?

[Fluffy]

It's pretty simple.

You can't consent to what is unknown and unknowable.

Half, or more, of our governance is deliberately kept secret from every citizen.

The other half contains rules that can be rewritten with no legislative votes.

Bankruptcy law says something about secured and unsecured creditors? Fuck that, this is an emergency.

The Constitution says something about due process? Fuck that, health care is in crisis.

There's an oil spill in the Gulf. The law says something about the company at fault's liability, and the Constitution says something about the process by which that liability should be determined procedurally. Fuck that, give us $20 billion!

Does the FCC control the internet? Who knows? Only the FCC commissioners.

The overwhelming majority - it's probably 95% or more at this point - of the "acts of governance" that take place in this country are completely insulated from any input from the public other than via the courts. So, yeah, people tend to not feel that government is taking place by the consent of the governed. Secret government makes consent irrelevant; arbitrary non-legislative power makes consent irrelevant.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

This is why I laugh when Tony/Chad/who-the-fuck-ever dismiss the issue of government coercion with the argument that "the people" control the government because of Teh Elections.

[Tulpa]

You're not a slave as long as you can rattle your chains every couple of years.

[spinnikerca]

Rasmussen has been running various polls comparing the 'political class' response to the 'mainstream' response for some time. The poll results are universally, starkly divergent. (Example, the political class thinks the bailouts were a GOOD idea....)

[J sub D]

In a related story at Politico, Jim Vandehei and Zachary Abramson suggest one reason for the divergence is that DC, now the country's wealthiest metro region, is a boomtown compared to the rest of the country.

When the Japanese started making serious inroads into the domestic auto market, Big 3 executives looked out their windows and saw nothing but Fords, Chevys and Dodges.

When the economy is going has gone into the crapper policy makers on D.C. look out their window and see Boomtown, USA.

[J sub D]

Screwed up the blockquotes. What a surprise.

[John]

It is all going to end badly. The money is going to run out either next year or in 2013. Right now they realize the repo man is coming. But they think they can stick the rest of the country with the bill through taxes. That isn't going to happen. Spending is going to come radically down in the next five years. It has to. The government is reaching the point where it can't borrow any more money. It can print the money. But that will cause inflation and effectively reduce the value of what is being spent.

When that money flow is cut off, Washington will be a bush town. I never say to my friends who have bought houses here. But I think they are nuts. When the bust hits, they will be giving away houses in this town. It is just a matter of time.

[JW]

In a related story at Politico, Jim Vandehei and Zachary Abramson suggest one reason for the divergence is that DC, now the country's wealthiest metro region, is a boomtown compared to the rest of the country.

Well, now you know where those 3.2 million jobs were created or saved.

[JW]

To qualify as a DC elite, you had to live in the DC area, pull in $75,000 or more a year, have a college degree or more, and work in some sort of political or public policy career.

Hmmm, I score 2 out of 3. Does that mean I'm 33% less out of touch?

[robc]

Considering there are 4 requirements, Im impressed that you are 2 out of 3.

[JW]

Crap. Now I'm only 25% less out of touch.

[ClubMedSux]

Beltway insiders are out of touch with arithmetic. That would explain our budget woes, right?

[John]

I hit all three. When the revolution comes, I probably going to the guillotine they will set up in Lafayette Park. My only hope will be run back to Kansas and try to hide among the locals.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

I hit two out of the four. Maybe they'll just cut half of my head off. That will leave me eligible for a job in the media.

[Tulpa]

What everyone seems to be missing is that a plurality of DC elites polled think the country is on the wrong track too.

[Tulpa]

I meant, with respect to the economy, which is the tack that the original poster is taking.

[ClubMedSux]

n May, unemployment in metro Washington hit 6 percent ? an uptick from April's rate for the area but well below the national average of 9.5 percent and far milder than the May rates of the shattered manufacturing towns of the Midwest, including Flint, Mich. (at 14.7 percent), Elkhart, Ind. (at 13.7 percent) and Rockford, Ill. (at 13.9 percent).

Quick! Somebody hire Cheap Trick to play at your birthday party!

[JW]

Here, have some of this going through your head all day.

[Ted S.]

I'd prefer this, thank you very much.

[NoVAHockey]

i meet the qualifications, but i sure don't feel elite.

[Ding Bottle]

Well duh, they have been out of touch with Main Street America for YEARS now. Nothing new here.

http://www.privacy-tools.be.tc

[squarooticus]

Rome, prior to the fall of the Roman Empire. History rhyming and all that.

[P Brooks]

They're hiring on K Street.

[P Brooks]

Hey, the presidential Suit is on the teevee!

He wants us to spur growth and start hiring. But he hasn't announced his resignation...

[Marshall Gill]

"A depression is when you lose your job. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A recovery is when Jimmy Carter Barak Obama loses his job." Ronald Reagan

[P Brooks]

"There are times when you put election considerations aside. That is why I am here today, electioneering."

[Tulpa]

Rockford, Ill. (at 13.9 percent)

Nice to see the hometown get in the national news once in a while.

[?????]

thanks