Washington Post/ABC News. 10/31-11/03. Adults. MoE ±3.5%.(no trendlines)
Q. I’d like to ask you about the distribution of wealth in this country – that is, the gap between how much money wealthy people have compared with how much money the rest of the population has. Do you think this gap is larger than it’s been historically, smaller, or about the same?
Larger: 61
Smaller: 5
About the same: 31
No opinion: 3
Q. Do you think the federal government should or should not pursue policies that try to reduce the gap between wealthy and less well-off Americans? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?
Should pursue (strongly): 43
Should pursue (somewhat): 18
Should not pursue (somewhat): 11
Should not pursue (strongly): 24
No opinion: 5
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about these numbers is not that a large majority believe income inequality is increasing in America, or even that a large majority would like the government to pursue policies to reduce it, but rather that the question was asked at all. A search of the archives at Polling Report, which goes back more than a decade, returns no questions on income inequality, one for "income gap" (related to racial inequality), none for "wealth distribution," and only returns results on this Washington Post/ABC news poll for "distribution of wealth." A broader web search turns up at least one more major polling firm asking about income inequality, but only in a poll that was released just nine days ago.
We all know that Occupy Wall Street is the reason why questions on income inequality are finally being broached by major polling firms. As such, these questions are tangible examples of how the young movement is successfully changing the direction of the national dialogue.