A number of factors underpin the anti-redistributionist shift in public opinion that I wrote about last week. First, and perhaps most important, is the emergence of significant resistance to downward redistribution among the elderly, a major voting bloc. CONT. Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times Read more »
The Politics Of Christie’s Social Security Plan Are Atrocious
If you aspire to win a Republican presidential primary, do not mess with old people. Don’t believe me? Ask New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in a few months. CONT. Harry Enten, FiveThirtyEight Read more »
Support for redistribution in an age of rising inequality
Despite the large increases in economic inequality since 1970, American survey respondents exhibit no increase in support for redistribution, in contrast to the predictions from standard theories of redistributive preferences. We replicate these results but further demonstrate substantial heterogeneity by demographic groups. In particular, the two groups who have most […] Read more »
The Most Valuable Voters of 2016
Where will demographic change most transform the landscape for the 2016 presidential race? … In the charts below, we summarize the two demographic trends that may most affect the political landscape in the 11 states that both parties now treat as decisive swing contests. As the charts show, all of […] Read more »
Reason-Rupe Poll: 72% of Americans Are Concerned About Public Pension Costs
The new Reason-Rupe national telephone poll of 1,003 adults finds 72 percent of Americans are concerned their state and local governments may not be able to afford the pensions that have been promised to government workers. With those worries in mind, 82 percent favor requiring current public employees to contribute […] Read more »
Baby Boomers More Likely to Identify as Conservative
Older generations of Americans are much more likely to describe their political views as conservative than as liberal. This includes the large baby boom generation, of whom 44% identified as conservative and 21% as liberal last year. That 23-percentage-point conservative advantage is less than the 31-point edge for the older […] Read more »