Definition of "nonelitist"

To be sure, the average American can sign his name more or less legibly, and can make out the sports headlines—but how many nonelitist Americans can, without undue difficulty, read as many as a thousand consecutive words of small print, some of which may be trisyllabic?

1980 January 20, Isaac Asimov, “A Cult of Ignorance”, in Newsweek, page 19