New Values Survey Holds Up A Mirror to America

The Aspen Institute, in collaboration with The Atlantic, has just completed a wide-ranging survey of American values. Two thousand respondents were surveyed and the results, tabulated and collated, have been made available to the public.

ATS members will not be surprised at some of the findings...

• Americans are united in their belief that money and lobbyists have too much influence in politics and that elected officials reflect the values of wealthy Americans only.
  
  
• Vast majorities from both political parties agree that Wall Street has an entirely different set of values than average Americans and say that the executives who presided over the financial crisis should have gone to prison.

Other findings are a little more unexpected:

• 69% of Americans believe that healthcare is the responsibility of the government, up from just over half in 2009.
  
  
• Americans most frequently name Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Billy Graham as being the individual most representative of American values.

Press Release

Presentation of Survey Findings

Conspiracy theorists may also be interested to know that

The Aspen Institute is largely funded by foundations such as the Carnegie Corporation, The Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Ford Foundation, by seminar fees, and by individual donations. Its board of trustees includes leaders from politics, government, business and academia who also contribute to its support. Board members include Madeleine Albright, Sylvia Earle, Henry Louis Gates, David Gergen, David H. Koch, Queen Noor of Jordan, and Condoleezza Rice. Walter Isaacson is President and CEO. Wikipedia

Speaking as a foreign observer, the survey results seem to me a fairly accurate reflection of the state of play in America at present. It was pleasant to see some evidence for a decline in religiosity, although this was not really a surprise to anyone who has been following the creationism/intelligent design debate in recent years.

But what do Americans think? And what does Above Top Secret make of it all?

Just to add my two pennies: How reliable, objective and impartial is the Aspen Foundation? It has two major corporate sources of funding, and its board members aren't exactly selected for their academic standing. Why?

I haven't checked the methodology of the survey, the results seem strange, but since the Aspen Institute has been questioned, I thought I'd take a look.

The organization, the Aspen Institute, works closely with Soros and even was reportedly used by the billionaire in a failed attempt to engineer the defeat of President Bush in the 2004 elections.

Aspen’s website says the group is dedicated to repairing what it terms “structural racism.”

The group defines that term as “public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequity in every key opportunity area, from health, to education, to employment, to income and wealth.”

Soros has provided significant funding to the Aspen Institute. His Open Society Institute has provided more than $400,000 to the group since 2004.

The New Yorker magazine reported that on a 2004 “clandestine summit meeting” that took place at the Aspen Institute. “The participants, all Democrats, were sworn to secrecy,” reported New Yorker, including Soros and four other billionaires who “shared a common goal: to use their fortunes to engineer the defeat of President George W. Bush in the 2004 election.”

Aspen and Soros You might want to look at the whole article. It covers a lot.

2,006 surveys out of 313,000,000 population is statistically insignificant & about as reliable as .. well .. political polls. ;-)

Reply to post by AtlasShrugging

Thats what I was thinking as well that sample is really small. I do however like the results.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by AtlasShrugging

The statistical significance of a result is not determined by what proportion of a population is sampled, but whether the sample is representative. A survey of 2,000 people is actually a very large survey.