Support for redistribution is falling

by Jeffrey Tucker, Mises Blog
Oct. 18, 2011

Support for redistribution, surprisingly enough, has plummeted during the recession. For years, the General Social Survey has asked individuals whether "government should reduce income differences between the rich and the poor." Agreement with this statement dropped dramatically between 2008 and 2010, the two most recent years of data available. Other surveys have shown similar results. What might explain this trend? First, the change is not driven by wealthy white Republicans reacting against President Obama's agenda: the drop is if anything slightly larger among minorities, and Americans who self-identify as having below average income show the same decrease in support for redistribution as wealthier Americans.

The article is interesting but inconclusive about causes for the change. Oddly the article cites surveys of people who make above or below the minimum wage and their attitudes toward increasing the minimum. But wait a minute. The whole point of the minimum wage is that you are not allowed to work for less, so how can the article casually speak of people who work for less? The point and purpose of the law seems completely lost on the writers.