Interviewing Wealthy Americans (WP-11-07)
Benjamin Page, Larry Bartels, and Jason Seawright
The sociopolitical attitudes and behavior of wealthy Americans are particularly important because the wealthy tend to exert more political influence than their less affluent fellow citizens. Yet little is known about these matters. Together with a number of colleagues, Page, Bartels, and Seawright have launched a Survey of Economically Successful Americans and the Common Good, which is attempting to reach respondents at and above the top 1 percent of U.S. wealth holders. The working paper discusses the methodological challenges the authors faced and the resulting research design. It offers a preliminary look at substantive results from a small, Chicago-area pilot study that NORC conducted.