Flawed media narrative in run-up to Nov 8?

IN mid-August, the opinion polls (more about them later) suggested that the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton would not only beat her Republican opponent Donald Trump, but could even do so by a big margin. So yours truly authored a report from my neighbourhood in a lofty suburb of the nation's capital, "Washington Establishment rocking: Hillary could win by a landslide in November".

"Early this week, I think I heard a really huge sigh of relief in my neighbourhood, and I believe I saw a lot of smiling faces around," I wrote, noting that Bethesda, Maryland, is the home of professional men and women who work in the capital city: a lot of highly paid federal government officials, lawyers, lobbyists, scientists, and even a few media types (including some of the leading columnists in New York Times and The Washington Post). They have one thing in common: They were hoping that Mrs Clinton would win in November - and they expected that that would happen! Indeed, there was one thing I was sure about: none of my neighbours was going to vote for Mr Trump for president in November.

"What brings most of my neighbours together and overrides any consideration of political party affiliation or ideology is their membership in the Establishment," I reported. "They have done very well in recent years and grew prosperous while the rest of the country went through a major economic recession, while their professional careers, social status and financial wealth depend very much on securing the status quo that has benefited them and provided them with so many rewards that only an activist government at home and abroad can dispense."