washington, dc

The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

TDS Co-Editor Ruy Teixeira: Public Wants Fair Economy

New public opinion data indicates that Americans want more just economic polices, and they know where economic injustice is coming from. As TDS Co-Editor Ruy Teixeira explains in his current ‘Public Opinion Snapshot’:

In the latest CBS/New York Times poll, by an overwhelming 40-point margin, the public endorses the idea that money and wealth in the country should be more fairly distributed (66 percent) over the idea that the current distribution is fair (26 percent).

And the public is quite clear about who is and is not responsible for economic policies favoring the rich:

These different priorities are not likely to escape public notice. In the same poll, just 28 percent said the Obama administration favored the rich, while 23 percent said it favored the middle class, 17 percent thought it favored the poor, and 21 percent thought all classes were treated equally.
That starkly contrasts with public assessments of conservatives in Congress. Almost 7 in 10 (69 percent) thought congressional Republicans favored the rich, compared to just 9 percent who thought they favored the middle class, 2 percent who thought they favored the poor, and a mere 15 percent who thought they treated all classes equally.

This opinion data helps to explain why conservatives and Republicans are adamantly opposed to the OWS demonstrations. As Teixeira concludes, “…That’s the real reason they don’t like Occupy Wall Street. The movement reminds the public of some very real things they don’t like about our economy–and the role of conservatives in stopping any real change.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.