Vox populi....

Gallup have been kind enough to e-mail me a new US opinion poll, so this calls for a quick and dirty on the findings:


'If the leaders of this nation followed the view of the public more closely, do you think the nation would be better off, or worse off than it is today?'

I was first accused of cynicism at the age of 11 (true story), so it would ill behove me to be too trusting of our rulers or - come to that - of Uncle Sam's rulers, but some 77% think that the US of A would be better off if they aped public opinion.  Note that 8% of Americans think Elvis might be alive, and 20% think Obama is a Muslim.    Republicans skew towards a greater belief in the public's good sense (81%) than Democrats (73%).  Higher levels of education correlate with lesser faith in public opinion - 28% of post grads think the US would be worse off if it followed public opinion, compared to 14% for those with just high school education.

Soo, how might POTUS and the whole Beltway establishment better connect with and follow public opinion?  By doing whatever is popular in this minute's opinion poll:


'If the leaders of this nation followed the view of the public opinion polls more closely, do you think the nation would be better off, or worse off than it is today?'

Doubtless Gallup would be happy to offer their services to the Federal government, at very reasonbale fees

Anyway, some 68%  think that would be a good thing, but mark that 73% thought so back in 1997.  The skew for better off is strongly weighted to the less educated and marginally so to Democrats.