Are All Rich People Now Liberals?

So asks James Ledbetter in Slate.

And the answer is . . . No!

Here’s what happened in 2008:

OK, that’s how people vote. How bout party identification and ideology? Check these out:

And here it is, sliced a different way:

Of, if you want to see it in map form, check out this article (with Daniel and Yair).

P.S. A skeptic might comment that the above graphs, which are based on national poll data, only break down incomes to the top 5% or so. What about the truly rich. Here are my thoughts on the political attitudes of the super-rich.

P.P.S. Ledbetter actually makes some good points in his article, which is about the campaign contributions of rich Americans. The article relies on a recent book by David Callahan, which seems to echo the work of Tom Ferguson (cited in the above-linked blog entry), who’s tracked campaign contributions by industry over many years.

I think that Ferguson (and Callahan) are on to something important, and I’m glad that Ledbetter is thinking about the implications of these trends. I just think his headline is silly and unhelpful. And the fact that it got out there at all–I assume Ledbetter didn’t write the headline himself–is evidence that there is still a lot of confusion about income and voting in the news media.

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