strivers’ row

From the Pew poll of Americans’ political and social views over the last 20 years (via Ankush, at Penguins on the Equator), here (buried deep in the summary) is the reason why the politics of resentment (class, income, or otherwise) doesn’t catch fire with Republicans and why it will continue to be popular with the Democratic base. (It also answers Thomas Frank’s extraordinarily condescending question “What’s the Matter with Kansas?“):

Republicans and Democrats remain far apart in their fundamental attitudes toward government, national security, social values, and even in evaluations of personal finances. Three-in-four (74%) Republicans with annual incomes of less than $50,000 say they are “pretty well satisfied” with their financial conditions compared with 40% of Democrats and 39% of independents with similar incomes.

If I polled everyone I know, I wonder how many people would say that they’d be “pretty well satisfied” with an income of less than $50,000 a year.

Here’s my (semi-educated) guess: no one in New York City, and a lot of people in the rural hamlet in Red America where I go to escape all the strivers.

There’s lots of other interesting stuff in the poll, too. (Pew claims it makes the territory favorable to Democrats.)  Check it out.