Ever wonder why poor people vote for parties that protect rich people? Here's one answer. It's another article by Sara Robinson.
Find it here: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010114723/self-made-american-myth-2-who-makes-250k
--Kim

«« Progressive Breakfast | Blog Home | One Week Until Deficit Commission Conclu... »»

Self-Made American Myth #2: Who Makes $250K?

By Sara Robinson

November 23, 2010 - 2:17am ET

Progressives have suspected for years that working- and middle-class Americans vote for the GOP because they have a deeply unrealistic idea about their real chances of becoming wealthy. We've joked that working stiffs vote for tax cuts and other goodies for the rich because they seriously believe that they're going to be rich themselves someday, and want to make sure those advantages will be there for them, come the day.

To date, this has been just a guess on our part -- but a recent study now proves that this guess was right on the money. The Myth of the Self-Made American is being bolstered by a delusionally optimistic view of just how many people actually make it to the top 3% income level. It's a delusion that affects almost everyone, but particularly those who vote Republican.

Ryan Enos at yougov.com explains the results of a YouGov/Polimetrix poll conducted a few weeks before the recent election. As he explains their findings:

The hot button issue with the tax cuts is whether to renew the cuts for families earning more than $250,000 a year. The wrangling among politicians over this issue seems to mostly involve whether or not earning that amount of money qualifies somebody as wealthy.

What's amazing about the magic number of $250,000 is that, based on responses to a recent YouGov/Polimetrix poll, by and large, Americans have a very distorted view of how many people make that much money.

Any idea what proportion of American families make more than $250,000 a year? Or, to potentially make it easier, any idea what proportion of families in your state make more than $250,000 a year?

Don't feel bad if you don't knowmost people don't. The actual number, nationwide is somewhere less than 3% of families earn more than $250,000 a year. What did the survey respondents say when asked this question? The average response was close to 17%!meaning your typical survey respondent thinks that almost 1 in 5 families in America earn that kind of money, when the answer is closer to 1 in 50!

Enos goes on to point out that there are only a few states where the actual number of $250K earners even cracks 8% -- Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. But when the question was put to people in those states, they weren't even half right, because their answers tilted upward, to about 21%.

Furthermore: the more money you make, and the more education you have, the more accurate your guess becomes. People making over $150K guessed an average of about 11%; those making under $30K thought it was more like 21%. College graduates guessed 12%; people with graduate degrees were closer, but not by much.

And only 15% of the survey participants answered 3% or under --though one-third of those answered "zero," meaning they thought nobody in the country makes more than $250K a year. Deduct this disconnected 5%, and you're left with just 10% of Americans who have a realistic sense of just how rare a $250K income is in this country.

While Republicans and Democrats gave about the same answers, the study also found that the more distorted peoples' views were, the lower their opinion of President Obama was, and the more likely they were to vote Republican last November 2. The bottom line, says Enos is this: "A person that says 20% of people make $250,000 is more likely to vote Republican than a person that says 5% of people make $250,000."

The irony, writes Enos, is that "people making less money actually believe that there are more wealthy people out there than wealthy people do."

This distortion explains a good deal about why middle- and working-class people vote for the GOP. A quarter of a million dollars sounds like an attainable income to most people -- they know at least a few people around town whom they imagine have already made it -- and they honestly think that with the right break or a little work, they might get there someday, too. It could happen.

Combine this with the common misunderstanding about how marginal tax rates work (hint: it's only the income over $250K that's taxed at the higher rate, not the whole year's take), and it's not hard to see why so many people making the average household income of $53K are incensed by the idea of increasing the marginal tax rate on the top 3% -- and why they think Obama is attacking them personally by suggesting such a horrible thing. They've bought into a myth about their chances of moving up the economic ladder that's at vast odds with the actual facts.

Some critics think Obama picked the wrong number, and that proposing at top tax rate that kicks in at $500K or a cool million would have avoided this problem. The average voter might have had a harder time imagining these numbers as being attainable. Maybe so. But maybe not: given how strong the myth of the self-made American is, and how many falsehoods you have to take on faith to believe it, we may be dealing with a level of delusion that's impervious to even really huge numbers, the kind that define only the top 0.5% of Americans.

We are living in a fact-free world now. Stories are all that matter. And in hard times, people tend to cling harder to their dreams -- especially the dream that no matter how bad things are now, someday they're going to rise above all this and triumph. Telling them the truth under these conditions is hard, and perhaps even cruel.

But one of the hallmarks of countries that are falling into chaos is that people come to believe more and more absurd things. Truth gives way to truthiness; facts aren't given the same weight as feelings. The huge disconnect between people's perceived prospects and their actual prospects shows just what a masterful job conservatives have done. They've convinced people to believe that their potential for mobility is as good or better than it ever was -- even as they've stolen the usual routes to a better life (education, home ownership, public investment, and so on) right out from under them.

Help us spread the word about these important stories...

Email to a friend

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on OurFuture.org.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.
Your Email: *
Your Name: *
Send To: *
Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas. You can only email up to 10 recipients
You are going to email the following: Self-Made American Myth #2: Who Makes $250K?
Message Subject: (Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from OurFuture.org
Message Body: (Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the OurFuture.org web site.
Your Personal Message: *
Bookmark/Search this post with:

Want this blog post and others like it delivered straight to your inbox in a daily digest? No problem! Just enter your email address below to sign up for our PM Update (mobile device-friendly):

Who makes $250k?

By Dale Marshall | November 23, 2010 - 3:07pm GMT

Let's not decide who should or shouldn't be taxed by counting how many heads there are in any particular group - that smacks of the tyranny of the majority.

Instead, we should consider that those who earn more have benefited more from our system, and thus "charging" them a higher tax rate is justified.

Let's also not deceive ourselves into thinking either that those who earn a great deal of money in any particular year are necessarily wealthy, or that the wealthy have any significant income to be taxed.

Rate It! (0)
Login or register to post comments

who makes $250

By Louis Bradbury | November 23, 2010 - 4:47pm GMT

What many commentators fail to mention is that the $250 threshold is not how much a taxpayer makes, but rather refers to his taxable income, which is the amount any income tax is levied on after all allowable tax deductions. Most taxpayer swho would have $250,000 of taxable income will havesignificantly higher gross incomes. IRS statistics will show the average amount of home mortgage, real estate tax, charitable and other deductions claimed by income level. It is most likely that a taxpayer subject to the $250 level would have a gross income exceeding $350, 000 or more. This only helps confirm your points. I wish more bloggers and reporters would actually ask tax attorneys for more real info as opposed to the shorthand summaries supplied in press releases. Unfortunately even Obama personally does not realize this because he could pount out how an even fewer number of taxpayers are in this category.

Finalkly the REP.Myth that this will hit small business owners is absurd. The SBA and other government agencies (IRS too) publish satistics on the incomes of small business owners. Most such owners can only wish they have taxable income of $250,000

Rate It! (0)
Login or register to post comments

the false bait for tea partiers

By Bob Pomeroy | November 24, 2010 - 2:42pm GMT

This article is dead on. The tps have been deluged by the flattery that they can compete with anyone or anything if greater freedom were institutionally enacted for all. The motive is greed, and the impetous is ego. They also believe that almost anyone can govern (and have W as an example) and that government officials are elected to impose their will on the governed rather than to represent the interests of the governed. It's a different world filled with magic but meaningless word icons. Many times they manifest exactly what they mean to oppose. Flattery is the main vehicle of this warped world view.

Rate It! (0)
Login or register to post comments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E-mail

Access News Service

Thursday, November 25, 2010