As the nation prepares to transition to Donald Trump’s administration, solid majorities of Americans are satisfied with the U.S. quality of life, the opportunity to get ahead by working hard and the nation’s military strength. They are much less satisfied with the state of race relations, the nation’s efforts to […] Read more »
What happens to the working class when millionaires and billionaires are in charge
President-elect Donald Trump was propelled into office largely due to a campaign message that promised to lift up working-class people and restore America to its former greatness. Yet, since the election, he has begun assembling the wealthiest Cabinet in modern American history, featuring corporate chief executives, millionaires and billionaires, and […] Read more »
Trump tax plan would shock Trump voters
… Trump voters believe (75 percent to 25 percent) that with Trump’s tax plan the percent of income paid to taxes will fall more for the middle class than the rich (Clinton voters were 33 percent to 67 percent in the other direction). Despite what his tax plan actually says […] Read more »
Why Blue States Are the Real ‘Tea Party’
When the modern Tea Party movement coalesced in the early days of the Obama presidency, its allusion to the political grievances of the protesters in Boston Harbor a couple of hundred years earlier seemed plausible enough: Its members felt that their taxes were too high and their interests not adequately […] Read more »
Trump’s Policy Proposals and Public Opinion
… I’ve put together a number of Trump’s proposed policies and grouped them into three categories: those that appear to be largely in sync with American public opinion, those that are clearly out of sync and those on which the public is divided. In all instances, I’m referring to public […] Read more »
Tax Me. Please.
… For six years, I have studied Americans’ attitudes about taxes as they reveal them in surveys, interviews, public statements and the voting booth. The data are clear: Americans do not think it’s smart to avoid your taxes; they think it’s unethical. Pollsters have been asking Americans whether “it is […] Read more »