I told you the people aren't dumb

A few days ago I suggested that pushing for the gas tax holiday was bad policy and bad politics because the people aren't dumb. After reading many things that say the gas tax issue polled well, I wondered where the authors got their information. After all, no one ever linked to a story that suggested as such. Turns out the NY Times actually asked people, and a majority of people think it's a bad idea.

This goes to show that conventional wisdom cannot be assumed. Of course people want to pay less for things than more, all else equal. But it doesn't take an economist to know that people are also willing to pay for things they value.