When The Pollster Becomes A Pundit

Michelle Cottle reviews a new book by Frank Luntz:

[H]e warns against putting too much pressure on the individual, and he certainly is not interested in a larger role for government. Instead Luntz dreams of a new era of “familial responsibility,” noting that “the family is the perfectly scaled security net for every human being.” If this doesn’t warm the heart of every “Leave It to Beaver”-nostalgic, Palin-crazed conservative out there, I don’t know what would. But, like so many of Luntz’s assertions and interpretations, this prescription has less to do with the unvarnished views of the American public than with the ideological preferences of the author. I have little doubt that Luntz has come to believe that he has got the inside scoop on the American soul. But after reading his book, I am mostly convinced that Luntz continues to aggressively conflate what Americans really want with what he really wants them to want.