The Elites' Perceptions

[Copper]

Less freedom is better?

No way anyone agreed with that.

This survey is nuts.

[Doctor Phibes]

The definition of elite seems more than a little arbitrary, and actually quite weird.

It's almost as if they were pre-selecting with a particular result in mind. Obviously that could never happen.

[Renauda]

@Doctor-Phibes

I agree it is weird. So much so that categories should be broken down as Elites, Ivy Leaguers and Churls (in the archaic sense of the word).

[Doctor Phibes]

John Kerry is a member of the elite, IMHO. Some history professor who lives in New York City dragging in 160K is not. There's a bunch of blokes where I work who would probably qualify under their definition.

They just should say they don't like highly educated city-based liberals and leave it at that.

[George K]

@Doctor-Phibes said in The Elites' Perceptions:

Some history professor who lives in New York City dragging in 160K is not.

Agreed. As I implied in the original post, the definition of "elite" is questionable.

Nevertheless, I find it interesting that their cutoff of $150K - which would really be upper-middle-class, resulted in these answers.

[Doctor Phibes]

@George-K said in The Elites' Perceptions:

Agreed. As I implied in the original post, the definition of "elite" is questionable.

Nevertheless, I find it interesting that their cutoff of $150K - which would really be upper-middle-class, resulted in these answers.

The other thing that's questionable is all of their conclusions, which rather revealingly come at the beginning of the article, as opposed to the end.

As you say, it's Rasmussen. They're based in New Jersey, so their idea of an intellectual snob is somebody who doesn't use spray-tan.

[Renauda]

@Doctor-Phibes

John Kerry is a member of the elite, IMHO.

I understand that like his political opponent, Dubya Bush, Kerry is a Skull and Bones man from his days at Yale.

[Axtremus]

By the poll’s definition, a multibillionaire living in Omaha, Nebraska or Jackson Hole, Wyoming would not qualify as an “elite.” The late Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, as college dropouts, would also not qualify. Neither would Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk for not having a post-graduate degree.

[Jolly]

Close enough.

They're talking about 1% of the U.S. population. There will be outliers.

The question then becomes whether the few outliers contradict the poll's numbers so much as to render the data useless.

[Axtremus]

Retired doctors, lawyers, CPAs, etc. would also not qualify as “elite” if they no longer pull >= $150k a year post-retirement, or if they retire to a non-urban ZIP code.

[Horace]

In “statistics” there is a concept known as a “representative sample”, which is understood to be a subset which indicates something about a larger set.

[Doctor Phibes]

Where is the justification for their definition of what constitutes an 'elite'?

Call me Mr. Cynical if you will, but I think there's a very good chance that they've decided on a narrative, and then picked a sample that fits the narrative.

[Jolly]

Think you've already said that.

I'm not sure it invalidates the data.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Jolly said in The Elites' Perceptions:

Think you've already said that.

I'm not sure it invalidates the data.

“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses a lamp post. For support rather than illumination”