by Jennifer Kabbany
Nearly 90 percent of Ivy League graduates support the “strict” rationing of gas, meat and electricity to fight climate change, according to a new poll.
The conservative Committee to Unleash Prosperity, in a survey that sought to measure the beliefs of “elites,” stated the findings reveal climate change “is clearly an obsession of the very rich and highly educated.”
“An astonishing 77% of the Elites – including nearly 90% of the Elites who graduated from the top universities – favor rationing of energy, gas, and meat to combat climate change. Among all Americans, 63% oppose this policy,” the organization reported.
The poll, released this month and titled “Them vs. U.S.: The two Americas and how the nation’s elite is out of touch with average Americans,” was billed by the committee as a “first-of-its-kind look at the views of the American Elite.”
They are defined as “people having at least one post-graduate degree, earning at least $150,000 annually, and living in high-population density areas (more than 10,000 people per square mile in their zip code).”
Another key finding is nearly six in 10 “elites” say there is too much individual freedom in America.
The report is based on two surveys of 1,000 elites conducted last fall.
“The study also examined a sub-sample of elites, adults who attended Ivy League schools or other elite private schools, including Northwestern, Duke, Stanford, and the University of Chicago. Roughly half of those we classify as ‘elites’ attended one of these schools. For the purpose of this study, we label those who attended one of these schools as ‘Ivy League Graduates,’” according to the group.
The New York Sun reports:
Between half and two-thirds of the elites surveyed also said they would support banning such modern conveniences as gas stoves, gas-powered cars, SUVs, and air conditioning if it was done in the name of fighting climate change. Some 70 percent of Ivy League graduates and 55 percent of one-percenters said they would also support limits on “non-essential” air travel as part of a program aimed at climate change.
On education, 70 percent of Ivy Leaguers and 67 percent of one-percenters said they would support a candidate who believes teachers and other education professionals — not parents — should decide what students are taught in public schools. Nearly half, or 45 percent, of average Americans said it should be the parents who decide. The elites, 70 percent of them at least, are far more likely to trust the American government to do right by its citizens most of the time, more than twice the national average.
“It is important to note that not all members of the Elites are elitists,” the report concludes. “Some don’t think about politics all that much, and others actively support traditional American values such as individual freedom. Still, given the influence they yield, the overall views of the Elites represent an existential threat to America’s founding ideals of freedom, equality, and self-governance.”
The “shocking” findings reveal “a wealthy, partisan elite class that’s not only immune from and numb to the problems of their countrymen, but enormously confident in and willing to impose unpopular policies on them,” argued Isaac Schorr in an op-ed Friday for the New York Post.
“It’s near impossible to behold the results and not acknowledge they’re indicative of a fundamental disconnect between two Americas,” he wrote. “That disconnect should be of as much concern to proud aristocrats as it is to the peasantry.”
The new poll results are reminiscent of another survey The College Fix reported on last summer which found two thirds of college students believe climate change is an “existential threat” to their generation; however, fewer than one in five were willing to give up their smartphones to help.
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Jennifer Kabbany is editor-in-chief of The College Fix.
Photo “Students on Campus” by Princeton University.
