The disparity in views about the country between elites and the public at large has resulted in stark partisan political divisions along socioeconomic lines

The populist face-off with elites has gone global, and has the usual suspects sniffily fretting over the causes and potential consequences. Amidst all the pontificating over resentment, anger and loss of trust, what if the crux of the problem is that the self-appointed ruling class has very different views than those it seeks to rule? What if, for example, the elite in the United States think we’re all too free, even as the public chafes at government restrictions?

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“When Americans are asked if there is too much or too little freedom, elites are three times more likely to say that there is too much individual freedom in America than all Americans. Almost six out of 10 of the graduates from elite colleges think there is too much freedom.”

That’s from a report recently published by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, a conservative group represented by Steve Forbes, of Forbes magazine fame, and prominent economist Arthur Laffer, who served as an advisor in the Reagan administration.

The report, “Them vs. U.S.,” draws from separate 2023 Rasmussen polls of registered voters in general and of people having at least one post-graduate degree, earning at least $150,000 annually and living in densely populated areas (“elites”). From the elites, the report breaks out a subset of those who attended Ivy League or other elite private universities (“Ivy League graduates”).

The disparity in opinions among the groups is highly illuminating if you’re trying to understand current political divisions in the United States.

Of registered voters, just 16 per cent say there’s “too much individual freedom” in........

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