Experts vs the public

I'm with Kevin Drum on this. I'm not sure what to make of this except there's usually a reason someone is labeled an "expert". It would indicate a person is intelligent and well informed on a subject. It further suggests a person has a good track record in correctly analyzing information and situations.

So my guess is the public is going on a gut feeling with limited expertise or knowledge. Yeah, I'm going on my gut feeling. But that's OK because I'm a blogger.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this, and I have to run out to an appointment in a minute, so I'll just post this and let everyone noodle over it. It comes from the second edition of the "Terrorism Index," a joint project of Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for American Progress that surveys equal numbers of (self-described) liberal and conservative national security experts. The full report is here. An excerpt is below. Question: Is the gap between the public and the experts surprising? Predictable? And does it mean anything?

(read more)