Class Attitudes, Political Knowledge, and Support for Redistribution in an Era of Inequality

Abstract

Objective Why, despite positive feelings toward the poor and working classes, relative to the rich and big business, has American public support for redistribution failed to appreciably increase during an era of high, and rising, income inequality? Methods I argue that this puzzling disconnect is due, in part, to a lack of general political knowledge. Using survey data from the 2012 American National Election Study, I test how political knowledge conditions the relationship between people's economic class group attitudes and their support for redistribution. Results People with low (high) levels of political knowledge weakly (strongly) connect their class attitudes with support for redistributive spending and progressive taxation. Data from four ANES panel studies show that this does not result from the less knowledgeable holding weak “nonattitudes” toward these class groups. Rather, consistent with Converse's classic work, I attribute this to less knowledgeable individuals lacking awareness about how redistributive policies benefit different social groups. Conclusion These findings help us to better understand an important puzzle in American politics: why a mass public that purports to favor the poor and working classes over the economic elite has not turned more strongly in favor of redistribution during an era of historic inequality.

Income inequality is unrelated to perceived inequality and support for redistribution

“…This relationship could mean that perceptions of inequality are key independent variables that influence attitudes toward redistribution (Gimpelson and Treisman 2018;Niehues 2014). However, the relationship is also consistent with the interpretation that perceptions of inequality are themselves an outcome of the same political (Macdonald 2019(Macdonald , 2020 and psychological (Du and King 2021;Kteily, Sheehy-Skeffington, and Ho 2017;Waldfogel et al 2021) processes that determine attitudes toward inequality. If the latter interpretation holds up in future research, then we may need to think of perceived pay ratios as intrinsically political items rather than as reflections of objective reality that mentally precede normative judgments.…”

“…This relationship could mean that perceptions of inequality are key independent variables that influence attitudes toward redistribution (Gimpelson and Treisman 2018; Niehues 2014). However, the relationship is also consistent with the interpretation that perceptions of inequality are themselves an outcome of the same political (Macdonald 2019, 2020) and psychological (Du and King 2021; Kteily, Sheehy‐Skeffington, and Ho 2017; Waldfogel et al. 2021) processes that determine attitudes toward inequality.…”

“…Occasionally, this relationship has been used to argue that, especially in the presence of substantial under‐estimation of inequality, we should think of perceived inequality (and not actual inequality) as a key driver of support for redistribution (Engelhardt and Wagener 2014; Gimpelson and Treisman 2018; Kuhn 2019b; Niehues 2014). Additionally, it is possible that perceptions of inequality are politically and psychologically co‐determined with (rather than being antecedents of) support for redistribution (Du and King 2021; Kteily, Sheehy‐Skeffington, and Ho 2017; Macdonald 2019, 2020; Waldfogel et al. 2021).…”

Are All Politics National? County-Level Social Contexts and Inequality Remediation Attitudes, 2006 to 2012

“…Changes in individuals’ economic circumstances, such as unemployment or a loss of income, can increase support for inequality remediation (Owens and Pedulla 2014). The elasticity of views in the face of changing circumstances and new information may be due in part to the fact that many Americans hold “weak nonattitudes” about how redistributive policies might benefit their own economic class group (MacDonald 2020). If many individuals do not hold strong, entrenched attitudes about inequality remediation, it would be unsurprising that when presented with either new information or changes in material conditions, they may change their minds.…”

Immigration Attitudes and White Americans’ Responsiveness to Rising Income Inequality

“…Additional observational work finds a relatively strong relationship between individuals’ attitudes toward inequality and their economic self-interest with their support for progressive taxation (Franko et al, 2013; Newman & Teten, 2020). However, others find that many Americans do not strongly connect their opposition to inequality with support for policies meant to reduce income disparities (Hayes, 2014; Macdonald, 2020). Experimental designs have also produced mixed results.…”