Power to the people?

 In 1946, a short-lived survey organization called the Psychological Corporation (which seems to have been connected to the Gallup Poll) asked "Would you agree that everybody would be happier, more secure and more prosperous if working people were given more power and influence in the government, or would you say we would all be better off if the working people had no more power than they have now?" 59% said they should have more power, 29% the same, and 12% less (8% weren't sure).  The question has never been repeated, but in 2017 an AP-NORC survey asked if various groups  had "too much, too little, or neither too much nor too little power and influence in Washington?" and one of those groups was "working people".  69% said too little, 28% neither too much nor too little, and 2% too much.  The questions are similar enough so that I think we can say there's been a real change.  

Breaking it it down by education (% should be more/same/less influence, and omitting "don't knows"):

                                      1946                    2017
HS                               61/28/11              69/28/4
Some college              40/42/18              70/28/2
College grad               32/46/22              73/26/1

A small change among people with only a high school education, and a much larger change among people with a college education.  Another way to look at it is that more educated people were substantially less likely to agree that "working people" should have more power in 1946. but that education made essentially no difference in 2017.

 In 1946 unions were important and there was a good deal of labor conflict, so some respondents may have thought of labor unions when they heard "working people."  That is, to some extent the difference may be a change in the interpretation of "working people" rather than in general beliefs about who should have power and influence.  But I don't think this is the whole story:  the distribution of opinions among union members in 1946 was about the same as the distribution among the general public in 2017.  So the comparison supports a point I've made several times:  that people have become less inclined to assume that the authorities know better than ordinary people do.  Moreover, this change has been stronger among people in higher social positions.  

[Data from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research]