# Economists back Obama in recent poll commissionned by Dilbert's creator **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 17, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927 "2008-09-17T01:19:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/1 "2008-09-17T01:19:26Z")
[Link to slashdot story I’ve got this from.](http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/16/1654217) I read the poll and I’m not sure it is meaningful. Most economists favor Obama’s plan but the numbers are more complicated than that. Scott Adams does a better job than I ever could explaining why. What do you guys think? Edifying or bullshit? ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/2 "2008-09-17T01:31:37Z")
I’m not sure how edifying it is. Most economists surveyed backed Obama, yes, but most economists surveyed were also Democrats. Unsurprisingly, most Democratic economists surveyed backed Obama, and most Republican economists surveyed backed McCain. [Cite](http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/16/dilbert.economy/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/3 "2008-09-17T01:42:09Z")
I think it’s a little disingenuous to conclude that economists support Obama from that poll, given that most of the economists were registered Democrats. You can conclude that Democratic economists support Obama, but that’s not really a punchy headline, now is it? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/4 "2008-09-17T02:03:13Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > I think it’s a little disingenuous to conclude that economists support Obama from that poll, given that most of the economists were registered Democrats. You can conclude that Democratic economists support Obama, but that’s not really a punchy headline, now is it? I don’t really get why its disingenuous. Most Economists _do_ in fact support Obama, that they are mainly Democrats isn’t really surprising, but I don’t think it makes the results less relevant. After all, if they supported McCain (and other candidates with similar economic policies) then they probably would’ve switched their party registration at some point and we’d end up with the reverse case: a body of economists that were both mostly Republican and the majority of which supported McCain. Also, to correct myself, the question wasn’t: “which candidate do you support”, but “which candidate would be better for the economy”. I think its worth noting that they weren’t being asked a political question, but rather an Economic one (granted one with a lot of political baggage). In any case, I was surprised by the results, both that most economists are Dems and to see how few answered that they didn’t think the President would make any difference. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/5 "2008-09-17T02:08:21Z")
Protesting that they’re mostly Democrats is circular. Most of them are Democrats because most of them support Democratic economic policies. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be Democrats. So yes, most of the economists surveyed support the Demcoractic party’s policies. saying they’re mostly Democrats is just a restatement of the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/6 "2008-09-17T12:19:33Z")
**DtC** makes the right point, though I must admit I am shocked to see such a party affiliation disparity in this direction. Restating my question verbatim from [the other thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=483703): That’s curious… why are so many more economists Democrats than Republicans? Has it been this way for long? To which I may add: _are_ so many more economists Democrats than Republicans? Is there reason to be suspicious of this result in the poll? (I do feel like I read something recently elsewhere which suggested that, counterintuitively, most economists were Democrats, albeit of the sort that wished the party would rid itself of the more egregiously boneheaded ideas they’ve become associated with [e.g., ill-founded antagonism towards free trade, the general issue of being unfortunately beholden to protectionist tendencies, etc.]. However, I can’t for the life of me remember where I read this\*. At any rate, even having read that, I was completely unprepared for the blowout demonstrated in this poll) \*: On edit, I found it. It was a throwaway line in [here](http://www.cato-unbound.org/2006/11/06/bryan-caplan/the-myth-of-the-rational-voter/). ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/7 "2008-09-17T12:23:33Z")
Who cares what these eggheads think? Good economisting is done with your gut. ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/8 "2008-09-17T13:56:28Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > **DtC** makes the right point, though I must admit I am shocked to see such a party affiliation disparity in this direction. Restating my question verbatim from [the other thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=483703): That’s curious… why are so many more economists Democrats than Republicans? Has it been this way for long? “Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” - Stephen Colbert. Seriously, why would more economists be Republican? A lot of individual Republicans (and certainly the party in aggregate) have already decided that they’ve got this whole econ business _totally_ figured out: you just cut taxes and regulations, and then all our farts start smelling like daisies. That is the entire breadth of their economic insight. Example: During Bush’s original campaign, he advocated cutting taxes. Why? The economy was good and the American people deserved their money back. After his election and the dot-com bust, he advocated cutting taxes. Why? The economy was bad and we needed an economic stimulus. :rolleyes: This is not economic policy. This is not well informed decision making. This is knee-jerk bullshit, the twisting of reality to fit what they always wanted in the first place. There’s no way to act as an honest policy adviser for people who are going to make shit up in order to not deviate from their original plan. The Democrats in general aren’t any better educated on econ matters, but they are normally willing to listen. They never made the mistake of pretending that they already had all the answers. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/9 "2008-09-17T14:06:31Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > That’s curious… why are so many more economists Democrats than Republicans? As I note in my thread on [Tax and Spend Liberals](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=483657) a historical analysis shows that democrats are markedly better on economic matters than republicans. The only notable difference being the fabulously wealthy get even more fabulously wealthy faster under republicans than democrats. For the vast majority of the country liberal policies are provably better than conservative ones. As such it is not surprising that economists tend to lean liberal and as experts in their field being a democrat or a republican should not discount their opinions out of the gate. Certainly the reader should keep it in mind to watch for bias but on the whole one supposes they should, in general, be intellectually honest about their field and support their notions with detailed proofs and analysis. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/10 "2008-09-17T16:00:11Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Most of them are Democrats because most of them support Democratic economic policies. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be Democrats. Only if economic policy is their primary voting issue. An economist who felt social issues were more important may choose their political party based on those instead. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/11 "2008-09-17T16:05:17Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Only if economic policy is their primary voting issue. An economist who felt social issues were more important may choose their political party based on those instead. But we know that these economists DO support the Democratic economic policies. They were specifically asked. Unless the suggestion is that they’re _lying_ about thinking Obama’s plan is better because they’re really pro-choice or something. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/12 "2008-09-17T16:11:10Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > But we know that these economists DO support the Democratic economic policies. They were specifically asked. Yes, we know that they support the Democratic _economic policies_. But we don’t know why they support the Democratic _party_. Your statement “most of them are Democrats because most of them support Democratic economic policies” is not supportable. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/13 "2008-09-17T16:27:25Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Yes, we know that they support the Democratic _economic policies_. But we don’t know why they support the Democratic _party_. Your statement “most of them are Democrats because most of them support Democratic economic policies” is not supportable. Well, we know they are Democrats _and_ that they support Democratic policies. It might not be the _only_ reason, but I think it’s safe to say it’s _a_ reason. It’s still even more silly to say they support Democratic policies because they are Democrats. Party identification follows ideology. Ideology does not follow party identification. Nobody is pro-life _because_ they are Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![T\_SQUARE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@T\_SQUARE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_SQUARE)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/14 "2008-09-17T18:56:40Z")
I see that less than 10% of those invited chose to participate, which makes sense, as people are busy. But can someone with polling experience say if this is a self-selection problem or not? It seems kind of problematic, but I can’t think of a better way to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economists-back-obama-in-recent-poll-commissionned-by-dilberts-creator/463927/15 "2008-09-17T21:51:35Z")
> [@Kendall Jackson](#): > > Seriously, why would more economists be Republican? A lot of individual Republicans (and certainly the party in aggregate) have already decided that they’ve got this whole econ business _totally_ figured out: you just cut taxes and regulations, and then all our farts start smelling like daisies. That is the entire breadth of their economic insight. To clarify, my surprise isn’t so much because of any belief that the Republicans are a party of far superior economic insight, but, rather, because of my (limited) experience with professional economists, who, for whatever reason, mainly leaned in the “hold my nose and vote Republican” direction. That is, my anecdotal experience had suggested the opposite trend from the apparent reality.