Many posts have discussed economic and educational inequality. The effects of inequality reach many corners of American life.
Inequality isn’t back as a political issue. It never left the stage. It’s not top of mind or a high priority for most Americans because it’s complicated. Americans don’t resent the rich, but most don’t admire them a lot either. They have long felt the wealthy have too much influence on government and the White House. Two-thirds in a recent Economist/YouGov survey believe Musk has a lot of influence on this administration. In another question, 44% wanted him to have no influence, 27% a little, and 17% a lot. In the new NBC News poll, 39% of registered voters had a positive feeling about him and 51% negative.
Americans don’t believe the rich pay their fair share of taxes, and they are content to tax them. While they agree the wealth gap is a problem, they are skeptical about government efforts to address it. In four Bloomberg questions from the past decade that asked if it was better for the government to implement policies to shrink the gap or better for government to stand aside and let the market operate freely even if the gap gets wider, people split evenly.
We’ll hear a lot more about inequality during Sanders’ tour and the debate to extend Trump’s tax cuts. Throughout the campaign, Trump led Harris as better able to handle taxes, and his sweeteners (such as no tax on tips or Social Security benefits) may dilute Democrats’ traditional lead on tax fairness. It is striking, however, how little our complicated views on inequality have changed over the last half century.
