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February 08, 2012 7:02 AM
Charles Murray [perhaps] Does a Tucker Carlson, Provoking Me to Unleash the Usual Torrent of Graphs
Charles Murray wrote a much-discussed new book, “Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010.”
David Frum quotes Murray as writing, in an echo of now-forgotten TV personality Tucker Carlson, that the top 5% of incomes “tends to be liberal—-right? There’s no getting around it. Every way of answering this question produces a yes.”
Frum does me the favor of citing Red State Blue State as evidence, and I’d like to back this up with some graphs.
Frum writes:
Say “top 5%” to Murray, and his imagination conjures up everything he dislikes: coastal liberals listening to NPR in their Lexus hybrid SUVs. He sees that image so intensely that no mere number can force him to remember that the top 5% also includes the evangelical Christian assistant coach of a state university football team… .
To put it in graphical terms:
Further discussion and more graphs here.
[Cross-posted at The Monkey Cage]
POed Lib on February 09, 2012 8:14 AM:
The top 5% tend to be liberal? Is this a joke? I know that Murray is a moron, who continually draws conclusions based on his concepts rather than data (that is, he is a liar), but this is beyond stupid.
Kochs. Adelson. Paulson. Bohemian Grove meetings. All of the people on Wall Street (80% of which are prognathic conservatives). On and on and on.
Yes, there are some liberals in the top 5%. My thought has always been that 90 % - 97% are more liberal than not, but 97%-100% are probably 90% conservative. Especially if you are in the financial sector.