U.S. | Inequality seen as a Major Problem in survey

A new Harris Poll examines the issue of inequality and whether or not it has potential traction in the presidential and congressional elections this fall. The results show that it could well be an important issue because a majority of Americans believe that inequality is a “major problem” and that it is important “that the government introduce policies to reduce inequality”.  Furthermore, large majorities of the public believe that major causes of inequality include the influence of both big business and the rich on government policies, and that increasing taxes on the very rich would be “fair” and “the right thing to do.”

However, the poll also finds that the issue is not a slam-dunk for President Obama and the Democrats. Only 39% of all adults believe that President Obama would, as president, do the best job of addressing the issue of inequality.  And only a modest 38% to 23% plurality believes that the Democrats would do a better job than the Republicans.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,451 adults surveyed online between March 12 and 19, 2012 by Harris Interactive.

The key findings of this poll include:

• Only 10% of adults (and only 19% of Republicans) think that economic inequality is “not a problem at all”.  Most people think it is either a major problem (57%) or a minor problem (23%);
• Most people (62%), including 43% of Republicans and 60% of Independents, think it is important that “the government introduce policies to reduce inequality in the U.S.”, and 34% think this is very important;
• Inequality is thought to have many causes including the loss of manufacturing jobs to China, India and other countries (81%), the influence of big business (78%) and the very rich (76%) on government, and the tax system (77%);
• A 60% majority thinks that taxes on the middle class are too high, while most people think that taxes are too low on the people with incomes of $1 million (62%) and on billionaires (69%); and,
• Most people think that “increasing taxes on the very rich” would be fair (70%), be the right thing to do (69%), and would help to reduce the budget deficit (64%).   Only 32% of all adults think that “it would hurt the economy because they are the ones who create jobs”…

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