Public Thinks Romney & GOP Favor Rich

(Caricature above of Romney is from DonkeyHotey.)

This should be no surprise really since Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie) is one of the lucky 1% in this country, but most Americans have a very different opinion of the rich than Romney does. Romney would have us believe that the rich are just honest Americans who got their money by hard work, and they deserve to keep more of it by having their taxes lowered. Most Americans have a dimmer view of the rich.

A recent Pew Research Center survey (taken April 4th through 15th of a random sample of 3,008 adults nationwide) shows that 55% of the public thinks the rich are more likely to be greedy than the average person, and 34% believe the rich are less likely to be honest. Most people also think the rich should be taxed more. Here are some interesting numbers:

WHO IS PAYING TOO LITTLE IN TAXES?
upper income...............58%
lower income...............20%
middle income...............6%

WHO IS PAYING TOO MUCH IN TAXES?
upper income...............8%
lower income...............37%
middle income...............38%

HAS THE GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR INCREASED OR DECREASED IN LAST 10 YEARS?
increased...............65%
decreased...............7%
stayed same...............20%
don't know...............9%

IS THE INCREASED GAP A GOOD OR BAD THING?
good...............3%
bad...............57%

There is also a big difference in how people view both the parties and the presidential candidates regarding the rich. Most think the Republican Party and Romney favor the rich over the middle class and the poor. Here are those numbers:

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY POLICIES FAVOR. . .
rich...............63%
middle class...............23%
poor...............3%

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY POLICIES FAVOR. . .
rich...............20%
middle class...............35%
poor...............32%

ROMNEY'S POLICIES WOULD HELP. . .
rich...............71%
middle class...............40%
poor...............31%

OBAMA'S POLICIES WOULD HELP. . .
rich...............37%
middle class...............50%
poor...............60%

It's clear that Romney and the Republican Party are out of touch with most Americans regarding their policy toward the rich. While Romney and the Republicans think the rich pay too much in taxes and want to give them massive new tax cuts, most people think the rich pay too little in taxes and would be in favor of raising taxes on the rich (and many other polls besides this one have also shown that). The American people also believe that Romney and the Republicans economic polices favor the rich over all other groups (by clinging to the failed "trickle-down" policy).

The Republicans need to change this perception if they want to do well in the upcoming election. The rich may have a lot of money to give to campaigns, but they don't have a lot of votes.