To carry out that test, Gilens and Page ran a horse race between the preferences of average voters and those of economic elites – defined as individuals at the top tenth percentile of the income distribution – to see which voters exert greater influence. They found that the effect of the average voter drops to insignificant levels, while that of economic elites remains substantial.
在检验中，吉伦斯和佩奇比较了普通选民和经济精英（定义为收入分配最顶端10%的人群）的偏好，研究哪类选民施加的影响更大。他们发现，普通选民的影响力下降到次要地位，而经济精英仍具有很大影响力。