19% of Americans think they are in the top 1% of earners.

[Sanddancer]

Read this in The Economist a few years back and will try and find it. And it's been posted here before but it's worth mentioning again.

Should such ignorance bother us? Yes, very much so, because it is these deluded numbskulls that vote and think that when we talk about the "1%" we are talking about them. They may also be the same folks living middle class lives, living in normal value properties who believe they are in danger of being caught by inheritance tax.

[gateley]

1. That IS disturbing.

[treestar]

2. If they are middle class ordinary people, then they are really stupid

If they are close, then that may not be so dumb.

[Yavin4]

3. Not Too Suprising. Most Americans Don't Live Near The Uber Wealthy

For example, say you live in Mobile, Ala, and you make $80,000 a year. For Mobile, you're in the top 10% of earners. There are no billionaires near you, so your perspective is askew.

[JoePhilly]

4. And the actual top 1% don't answer poll quesitons at all ... they are above it.

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. A "few years back" was 1999

When people were doing a lot better and could be very optimistic.

But more significantly, it has been long established that people do not answer survery questions like that honestly. They exaggerate wealth, how healthy they eat, how much they exercise, how much they volunteer, give to charity, etc. Even in anonymous surveys.

[TroyD]

6. Very disturbing

Shows how the Republicans still get such a large chunk of the vote.

[SheilaT]

7. This matters very much, and it's NOT that these people are just

deluded numbskulls. They're probably not. But the top 19% are doing quite well. They may be making six figures, and if they've lived within their means they have savings and a reasonably nice life. These may also be people who don't particularly fear for their jobs. Maybe they're older retired people with a pension, social security, a home that's paid for and so on. What they don't get is how far from the top 1% they really are. They probably don't understand how very well the top had done in recent years.

What I'm saying is that mathematical ignorance is the real problem here. Be honest now, how many of you who graduated from high school at least five years ago remember anything of the math you took? Let's see a show of hands. You, in the back, I know you, and I know you had to take algebra twice to pass. I know you don't remember anything.

We here an DU, even those of us who don't have amazing math skills, tend to have a decent grasp of just how very far above us the 1% really are. And how huge the spread is at the top end as you move up the income gradient. Hopefully, there will be some political advertizing this season that helps inform people, but I'm not holding my breath.

[JI7]

8. i read that one also, and it told more about Why people vote for certain candidates

than polls asking directly which candidates they support.