Fifty-two percent said they favored heavy taxes on the rich. | REUTERS Poll: Most say redistribute wealth

Nearly 6 in 10 Americans say wealth is distributed unfairly in the United States, and a majority want the federal government to play Robin Hood to fix the problem, according to a poll released Thursday.

Only 33 percent of Americans think the current distribution of wealth in this country is fair, according to the Gallup Poll, while 59 percent say it is not. Fifty-two percent said the United States should redistribute wealth through heavy taxes on the rich, while 45 percent disagreed.


While the percent of Americans who said the current distribution of wealth is unfair is down from 68 percent in 2008, the number of Americans who favor federal redistribution is at an all-time high.

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There are predictable partisan and ideological divides on the questions. Forty-seven percent of conservatives believe the distribution of wealth is fair, compared wth only 17 percent of liberals. Only 26 percent of Republicans want the government to redistribute wealth, compared with three quarters of Democrats.

The poll of 1,005 adults was conducted from April 4 to April 7. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

This article tagged under: Taxes

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