To what extent will the 2012 election be affected by a new understanding that we are suffering from huge -- and growing -- disparities in income?
The Hill has a new poll out today.
Two-thirds of likely voters say the American middle class is shrinking, and 55 percent believe income inequality has become a big problem for the country, according to this week’s The Hill Poll.
Only 14 percent of respondents said the middle class is growing and another 14 percent said it is staying the same, while an additional 19 percent said income inequality is somewhat of a problem for the United States. Only 21 percent said inequality was either not much of a problem or no problem at all.
It goes on. American's don't think the tax structure is fair. A solid majority dislikes the prospect of a flat tax.
With just about a year to go until the 2012 general election, policy makers will have to grapple with that public unrest as they try to battle both soaring deficits and an unemployment rate that has hovered around or above 9 percent for more than two years.
Congressional Republicans recently responded coolly to President Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan, which Democrats proposed paying for by raising taxes on top earners.
And the supercommittee, which has less than a month to unveil its recommendations, has discussed using tax reform as a way to eat into deficits.
Perhaps not surprisingly, 94 percent of liberal respondents to The Hill Poll saw income inequality as either a big problem or somewhat of one. But 55 percent of conservatives and 81 percent of centrists came to that conclusion as well.
At least 40 percent of each income group saw income inequality as a big problem as well, and 65 percent of respondents making at least $100,000 a year viewed it as a big or somewhat big issue.
Comments