Do turkeys really vote for Christmas?

I've had several people forward me this story from the BBC. The short version is that it's puzzling why so many Americans vote for things that are against their own interests. It's essentially a rehash of Thomas Franks' "What's the Matter with Kansas?" (Or America, in the British version of the book). The problem, as Larry Bartels has shown, is that it's just not all that true. (For good measure, Bartels also took no less than Barack Obama to town for thinking the same thing. See his NY Times op ed here). 

Now, I suspect that Runciman hasn't read Bartels' responses. But even if he has, and he's still not convinced, he should traipse over to Andrew Gelman's blog and read this. Sometimes there's a man. Today that man is Gelman.