Deal with it.
The author, David Brooks, wrote for the Washington Times and the Weekly Standard before working for the NY Times. He's not a liberal. He's guilty of being from New York, like me, and I'm no liberal.
Every time I see him on TV, he's arguing against some hard core lefty, such as Mark Shields on PBS' The News Hour. Here, he's enthusiastically praising the optimism of folks who expect to work their way to prosperity, while commenting on the results of this PEW poll.
I'll agree that Brooks has a compulsive trait for sociological analysis, but don't you think Karl Rove looks at the PEW poll results also, even if it's recognized for its leftwing bias?
Besides getting insights into how the left, the enemy, thinks, the NY Times serves other functions. Where else would Arlen Specter have "Paying for Asbestos" printed, the New York Sun? Can you tell me about any other conservative newspapers with a national reputation?