This is a new survey done by the Bloomberg News Poll (between April 6th and 8th of a random national sample of 1,008 adults, with a 3.1 point margin of error). It shows that Americans are finally waking up to the reality of the vast wealth and income gap between the rich and the rest of America -- and beginning to understand that the gap is continuing to grow wider. Even 59% of Republicans will admit that.
But while everyone admits this is a problem that needs to be addressed, there is significant difference on how that should be done. About 75% of Republicans and 54% of men want to stick their heads in the sand and hope the problem goes away without doing anything. They say we should just let the "free market" work. The problem is that's what we have been doing for the last 35 years ("trickle-down" economic policy), and that's what has caused the problem in the first place. Keeping the same economic policy in place will just let the problem continue to grow worse.
Women (51%) and Democrats (70%) are smarter than that. They know the problem will not be addressed by the "free market", and government will have to step in and act. And a good start toward fixing the problem could be accomplished by making the rich and corporations pay their fair share of taxes, by raising the minimum wage to a livable wage, and by increasing Social Security benefits.
This is not rocket science. Anyone with half a brain should realize that giving the rich and corporations even more tax breaks will just make the problem worse -- and so will just continuing the same economic policies of the last 35 years. The problem can't be solved by catering to the rich, or by wishful thinking. Government action is needed, and the quicker the better.
The poll also showed another interesting thing -- for the first time in several years, more people approve of President Obama's handling of the economy (49%) than disapprove (46%).
