Ever since President Barack Obama proposed raising taxes on millionaires as part of a debt reduction package, Republicans have been refining their defense for resisting the change. These are the job creators, they argue, and economic growth will be hampered if they have to pay more income to the government. But it looks like they may have to find something more effective.
In the first public polling available on the so-called “Buffett Rule” specifically — the proposal to raise taxes on millionaires advocated by billionaire investor Warren Buffett — Daily Kos/SEIU’s weekly “State of the Nation” survey asked the following: Do you support or oppose ensuring that people who make over a million dollars a year pay the same percentage of taxes or more on their total income as those who make less than a million dollars a year?
The answer wasn’t close. 73 percent supported the idea, versus 16 percent who did not, and 11 percent who were unsure. The poll was of 1,000 registered voters.
Kos took the opportunity to revel in the results:
Indeed, every demographic sub-group favors the idea. Republicans back it 66-17. Hell, even self-identified tea partiers, the weakest supporters, are at 52-29. Oh, and those making over $100,000? 73-16.
In recent polling, voters have shown a willingness to include raising taxes within a plan to address the deificit, and especially on those Americans making $250,000 or more. A recent Pew survey showed 66 percent support for that idea, and 63 percent in a poll from CBS News and the New York Times. The President himself has seemingly grasped on to that sentiment, going on the road promoting his jobs and debt reduction plans with populist rhetoric. It’s also further evidence that Obama is distancing himself from the ongoing squabbling of Congress, embracing more popular proposals and taking them directly to voters.
The poll was conducted by Public Policy Polling (D) for Daily Kos/SEIU using 1,000 automated telephone interviews with registered voters from September 22nd to the 25th. The poll has a sampling error of 3.1 precent.
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Kyle Leighton
Kyle is the Poll Editor at TPM. He graduated from Beloit College (WI) and began working in politics before getting an M.A. in magazine journalism from New York University, where he interned at TPM and the website of The New Yorker.
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