America's elites don't trust voters. That's the real crisis. | Opinion - USA TODAY
Scott W. Rasmussen - Opinion contributor
What would you want to happen if your preferred candidate lost a close election, but their campaign believed it could cheat its way to victory? Like the overwhelming majority of Americans, you’d likely accept the results.
A survey conducted by the Napolitan Institute, which I founded, revealed that just 7% of voters would want their side to cheat to win. That number is hardly encouraging, but it remains a fringe view.
Among a group we identify as the "Elite One Percent," however, 35% would rather see their team cheat than lose. This highly influential class is defined by postgraduate degrees, incomes above $150,000 and residence in densely populated urban areas.
Worse still are the "Politically Active Elites," members of that same elite class who engage with politics daily. In what may be the most alarming polling result I've ever seen, 69% of these Politically Active Elites would rather see their side cheat to win than accept the judgment of voters.
That is not merely offensive. It is a direct affront to the core American ideals of self-government, political equality and freedom. It’s a scandal that they play such an important role in driving the nation’s political dialogue.
These attitudes reveal an elitist revolt against the nation’s founding principles. A growing faction within America’s leadership class increasingly believes it is better suited to rule than the public itself. Research commissioned by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity found that Politically Active Elites are far more likely to believe Americans enjoy too much individual freedom.
Elites are losing faith in democracy
Unfortunately, this elitist mindset has not remained confined to the upper tiers. It has spread to partisan activists across the political spectrum, fueling much of the toxicity that defines modern American politics.
Nowhere is that clearer than in today’s redistricting wars. In state after state, lawmakers are redrawing political maps not to better represent voters, but to secure partisan advantage. Yet only 23% of voters believe such power plays are appropriate.
That figure underscores a deeper reality my polling has revealed again and again: America has become a 10-10-80 nation. Roughly 10% on the left and 10% on the right are locked in constant political warfare, while the remaining 80% are caught in the middle. These partisan warriors have convinced themselves that losing is an existential threat, making the pursuit of power more important than the principle of representative government.
At some level, the 10 percenters know that voters are supposed to choose their representatives and that legitimate government depends on the consent of the governed.
But they no longer trust voters to make the “right” choices.
So they game the system, sideline the public and manipulate institutions to secure power for their side. And when challenged, they often retreat to the childish excuse that the other side did it first.
Most Americans still believe in self-government
The good news is that this elitist faction remains a fringe minority. While it holds outsized influence across political, media and corporate institutions, it commands little genuine support beyond the hardened partisan 10 percenters.
Fortunately, the adults in the room – the 80 percenters – hold a very different set of values.
They are raising families, building communities and doing the everyday work that keeps the country moving forward. They largely understand that real progress begins far from Washington’s power struggles. Government matters, but it should not dominate every aspect of national life.
The Napolitan Institute’s “We the People” project highlighted this contrast. Conducted in partnership with Jigsaw, a Google tech incubator, it brought together five people from every congressional district in America for a nationwide civic conversation.
While political elites remain consumed by tribal conflict, the “We the People” project found that the broad American middle shares far more common ground than today’s political culture suggests.
Across 1.6 million words of conversation, participants consistently demonstrated a deep respect for the nation’s founding ideals of freedom, equality and self-governance. Americans may no longer speak in the language of Thomas Jefferson, but the principles that shaped the republic still resonate powerfully today.
That national dialogue ultimately produced a Declaration of American Ideals, recently presented to the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and set for public display throughout 2026.
Each principle in the declaration earned support from representatives in at least two-thirds of the nation’s congressional districts, reflecting broad consensus across both red and blue America. Not just partisan strongholds, but a genuine cross-section of the country.
The bottom line is this: The American people still believe in the nation’s founding ideals, even when many of their leaders do not.
They understand that America grows stronger not by abandoning freedom, equality and self-governance, but by more fully embracing them.
The 80 percenters know there is more to life than endless political warfare. They remain the nation’s best hope, the quiet majority capable of rejecting elitist excess and restoring a healthier civic culture.
That is why the elitist revolt will ultimately fail, and why America’s best days may still lie ahead.
Scott W. Rasmussen is president of RMG Research, founder of the Napolitan Institute and co-founder of ESPN. His new book, “Out of Touch: The Elite One Percent and the Battle for America’s Soul,” was published by Republic Book Publishers on May 19.
