I dont think think a lot of it is conscious. Lots if these people are professional class libs for whom data is more real than the world outside their door. So for them if the data says things are fine then it must be fine. Everyone else is mistaken because they arent “smart,” read “educated,” read “gone to the right finishing schools,” to understand it. But they never ask why the data says what it says or how it could be wrong. It’s a unique kind if modern idealism.