JAMES TARANTO: The Phony Class War: Is “conflict between rich and poor” really on the rise?

In fact, Pew does not claim to have found, as the AP falsely asserts, that “tensions between rich and poor are increasing.” It finds, rather, that “perceptions of class conflict” and “the belief that these disputes are intense” have become more prevalent, especially since 2009.

It isn’t hard to understand why that might be the case. After all, what have Americans seen when they turned on the news over the past few years? In the White House, a president who, for want of political or managerial competence, has nothing to offer but bitter partisanship and ideologically driven class resentment. In public parks around the country, professional protesters and ignorant college kids ranting about their grievances against “the 1%.” Now, in New Hampshire and South Carolina, even Republicans, led by nonsensical old Newt Gingrich, are getting in on the act.

The perception of “class conflict” has grown because the media have paid the putative conflict so much attention. They have done so in part for ideological reasons–lefty journalists have had a weird preoccupation with “income inequality” for as long as we can remember–but also in part because it’s newsworthy, especially when the president of the United States is trying to foment class war.

It would also be newsworthy if he succeeded–and that is the story the AP is trying to peddle. But Pew’s findings show it is a phony war. If underlying “tensions between rich and poor” were really rising, the survey would have found some evidence of actual hardening of attitudes across socioeconomic lines.

As usual, Obama is mostly convincing to the press.