by hilzoy
From The Economist:
“A survey of academic economists by The Economist finds the majority — at times by overwhelming margins — believe Mr Obama has the superior economic plan, a firmer grasp of economics and will appoint better economic advisers. (…)
Eighty per cent of respondents and no fewer than 71% of those who do not cleave to either main party say Mr Obama has a better grasp of economics. Even among Republicans Mr Obama has the edge: 46% versus 23% say Mr Obama has the better grasp of the subject. “I take McCain’s word on this one,” comments James Harrigan at the University of Virginia, a reference to Mr McCain’s infamous confession that he does not know as much about economics as he should.”
Some of their data:
It’s even more striking when you look at some of the internals. The economists rated Obama’s plan to deal with the housing and economic crisis 1.1 points higher than McCain’s, on a five point scale; economists who describe themselves as not affiliated with either party rated it .6 higher. Economists as a whole rated Obama’s tax plan nearly 1.1 points higher than McCain’s; unaffiliated economists rated it nearly .7 points higher. On fiscal discipline, economists as a whole rate Obama a full point higher; unaffiliated economists rate him .55 points higher.
Predictably, Obama dominates on topics like reducing income inequality and reducing the number of people without health insurance. But he also crushes McCain on reforming financial regulations: economists as a whole rank him 1.3 points higher than McCain, while he leads among unaffiliated economists by nearly a full point (and is almost tied with McCain among Republicans.)
My only question: who are those eleven economists (7.8% of the total) who think McCain has a better grasp of economics than Obama?
