>Sometimes pollsters use questions about how people perceive neighbors
>or their larger world as a way of getting a handle on their real
>opinions about their own lives - esp on stuff where there's social
>disapproval involved. Classic example is to ask evaluation of others'
>views on race and racism. Since it's criminally unpatriotic to be
>anything but optimistic and happy in the USA, it could be that the
>questions about the state of the nation reveal people's actual views.
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I was going to ask about this. I've heard of the racism example, but has anyone ever studied this issue of people's personal economic situation? I ask because the poll numbers Brooks cites on people's personal situation have always registered high positives and they're always higher in the US than other countries.
Have public opinion researchers ever tried to actually measure whether (or the degree to which) Americans overinflate how well they're doing or how optimistic they are about their own lives? Maybe someone on your public opinion list would know?
Seth