Most Americans favor taxing wealthy and corporations, oppose cutting social programs to close deficit

Washington, D.C. – Equal numbers of Americans say both the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements share their values (29 percent each), a new national survey finds.

The new PRRI/RNS Religion News Survey was conducted by Public Religion Research Institute, in partnership with the Religion News Service, and released on the two-month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City.

“The symmetry in the number of Americans who say the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street Movements share their values obscures the different profiles of movement supporters,” said Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute. “Support for the Tea Party is more intensely concentrated among Republicans, while support for the Occupy Wall Street movement is less intense among Democrats, but more broadly spread among other groups like political moderates.”

The survey was also in the field as the deadline for the proposal to reduce the deficit from the Congressional super-committee approaches. The survey found clear priorities among the public. Americans favor increasing taxes on Americans making at least $1 million dollars per year (69 percent) and eliminating tax breaks for large corporations (57 percent). Americans oppose cutting funding for the military (74 percent), cutting federal funding for social programs that help the poor (67 percent), and cutting federal funding for religious organizations that help the poor (66 percent).

“Although political leaders on the Congressional super-committee cannot agree on a plan to reduce the deficit, the American public largely agrees on a blueprint,” said Daniel Cox, PRRI Research Director. “Americans favor taxing wealthier Americans and corporations, and they oppose cutting social programs and military funding.”

The survey also found that 8-in-10 (79 percent) Americans believe the gap between the rich and the poor has gotten larger over the past 20 years. Americans, however, are more divided about the impact that this perceived rise in inequality has on the idea of the American dream: that if you work hard, you’ll get ahead. Forty-four percent of Americans say the American Dream still holds true, while 48 percent say it once held true, but doesn’t anymore; 6 percent say it never held true.

Among the findings:

American Values and The Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street Movements
Americans are equally likely to say that the Occupy Wall Street movement shares their values as to say the Tea Party movement shares their values (29 percent each). Americans also have nearly identical evaluations of the likely impact of each of these movements. For both the Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement, about one-third of Americans say each movement is a good thing for society (32 percent each), 1-in-5 say each movement is a bad thing for society (19 percent and 18 percent respectively), and about 4-in-10 say each movement doesn’t matter one way or another (38 percent and 39 percent respectively).

Americans are deeply divided along partisan lines in their evaluations of these movements, although Republicans are significantly more likely to say the Tea Party shares their values than Democrats are to say the Occupy Wall Street movement shares their values.

• Approximately 6-in-10 (59 percent) Republicans say the Tea Party shares their values, compared on only 14% of Democrats; 78 percent of Democrats say the Tea Party does not share their values.
• Only 4-in-10 (40 percent) Democrats say the Occupy Wall Street movement shares their values, compared to 47 percent who say it does not share their values. Only 17 percent of Republicans say the Occupy Wall Street movement shares their values, compared to 71 percent who say it does not.
• Less than 3-in-10 Independents say either the Tea Party movement (26 percent) or the Occupy Wall Street movement (29 percent) shares their values. Americans who identify as political moderates, however, are more likely to say the Occupy Wall Street movement shares their values (33 percent) than to say the Tea Party movement shares their values (22 percent).
• Among religious groups, white evangelical Protestants are the most likely to say that the Tea Party movement shares their values (49 percent), but nearly 4-in-10 (39 percent) say it does not. Nearly 4-in-10 (38 percent) of religiously unaffiliated Americans say the Occupy Wall Street movement shares their values, compared to 34 percent of minority Protestants, 30 percent of white mainline Protestants, 29 percent of Catholics, and only 18 percent of white evangelical Protestants.
• Americans who are part of the Millennial generation (ages 18-29) are significantly more likely to say the Occupy Wall Street movement shares their values (34 percent) than to say the Tea Party movement shares their values (26 percent).

Approaches to Cutting the Deficit
Nearly 7-in-10 (68 percent) of Americans say that in order to reduce the deficit, it’s fair to ask wealthier Americans to pay a greater percentage in taxes than the middle class or those less well off.

When considering measures that would help reduce the nation’s budget deficit, Americans favor increasing taxes on Americans making at least $1 million dollars per year (69 percent) and eliminating tax breaks for large corporations (57 percent).

Americans oppose cutting funding for the military (74 percent), cutting federal funding for social programs that help the poor (67 percent), and cutting federal funding for religious organizations that help the poor (66 percent).

Inequality and the American Dream
Approximately 8-in-10 (79 percent) Americans believe the gap between the rich and the poor has gotten larger over the past 20 years, 14 percent believe it has stayed the same, and only 4 percent believe it has gotten smaller. There is broad agreement across political, religious, and other demographic categories on this point.

Americans, however, are more divided about the impact of this perceived rise in inequality on the idea of the American Dream: that if you work hard, you’ll get ahead. Forty-four percent of Americans say the American Dream still holds true, while 48 percent say it once held true, but doesn’t anymore; 6 percent say it never held true.

Government and Church Responses to Economic Crisis
Two-thirds (67 percent) of Americans say the government should do more to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, compared to 31 percent who disagree. Approximately two-thirds (66 percent) of Americans also say the government should do more to help students pay for college and pay off student loan debt.

Americans are evenly divided in their evaluations of the responses of churches and clergy to the economic crisis. Forty-six percent say churches and clergy have not provided enough moral leadership on the country’s most pressing economic problems, compared to 45 percent who disagree.

Read the report.

Read the topline questionnaire and methodology.

The survey was designed and conducted by Public Religion Research Institute in partnership with the Religion News Service. Results of the survey were based on bilingual (Spanish and English) random digit dial telephone interviews conducted between November 10, 2011 and November 14, 2011, by professional interviewers under the direction of Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS). Interviews were conducted among a random sample of 1,002 adults 18 years of age or older in the continental United States (301 respondents were interviewed on a cell phone). The margin of error for the survey is +/- 3.0 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence.

Public Religion Research Institute is a non-profit, nonpartisan research and education organization specializing in work at the intersection of religion, values and public life.