A recent poll conducted by the New York Times and CBS News highlights just how concerned Americans have become about income and wealth inequality irrespective of their political affiliations. The national telephone poll, conducted on both land lines and cell phones, surveyed more than one thousand adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
The poll found that a strong majority of Americans believe that wealth should be more evenly divided, including among nearly half of Republicans and two thirds of independents. Seven in ten Americans support an increase in the federal minimum wage from seven dollars and twenty five cents and house to ten dollars and ten cents an hour, though Republicans are about evenly divided on the question.
The percentage of Americans who believe that everyone has a fair chance to move ahead in today’s economy has fallen seventeen percentage points since early two thousand and fourteen according to the New York Times, with six in ten Americans saying that only a few people at the top have an opportunity to advance. Americans have also become skeptical regarding free trade, with nearly two-thirds favoring some for of trade restrictions.
