24
PIPA 10/99, 12/03, 6/05.
25
Epinet.org and wikipedia.org, accessed 11/1/07.
26
U.S. Census Bureau, 8/28/07, data for 2006.
27
See Fay Lomax Cook, Who Should be Helped?: Public Support for Social Services (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1979).
28
Frank R. Westie. “The American Dilemma: An Empirical Test,” American Sociological Review, 30 (4): pp. 527-538
29
CCFR 1990-2002; CCI for CCFR 2004. There was a substantial rise in support for expanding education programs after
the 1974-82 period.
30
1977 OVS (53% “good idea,” 16% “bad idea”). McClosky and Zaller, American Ethos, p.91.
31
U.S. Census Bureau 8/28/07, CPS data for 2006. ((LJ/MB add cite on comparative $ & outcomes))
32
CCFR 1994 (71% “expanded”), 1998 (78%), 2002 (77%), 2004 (79%).
33
CNN/USA Today, 1/2000; Gallup, 9/2000-11/2006. The proportion of Americans saying that universal health coverage
is the responsibility of the federal government has risen from 58% in 1958 to 73% in 2007, with a big jump since 2005.
34
PSRA for Kaiser and Harvard, 12/99; ICR for Kaiser and NewsHour, 1/-2/2000.
35
CBS/NYT, three surveys 2/80 to 4/81 and seven surveys 10/90 to 12/95; ICR for Harvard and RWJ 8/2000.
36
Eight surveys between 11/98 and 11/04 for Harvard and Kaiser, by PSRA, ICR, and Washington Post.
37
See usatoday.com/news, 10/3/07, p.1.
38
1958 PAB study, McClosky and Zaller, American Ethos.
39
Fay Lomax Cook and Lawrence R. Jacobs. “Assessing Assumptions about Attitudes Toward Social Security: Popular
Claims Meet Hard Data.” The Future of Social Insurance: Incremental Action or Fundamental Reform ed. Peter Edelman,
Dallas Salisbury, and Pamela Larson. (Washington: Brookings Institution, 2002), pp. 82-118.
40
Rebecca M. Blank, It Takes a Nation (New York: Russell Sage, 1997), 20, 228.
41
JCPES 9/98. Support among African Americans was 66%, a bit higher than among whites. It stayed essentially the
same in November 2005.
42
Seven CCFR surveys between 1982 and 2004 show widespread support for expanding Social Security.
On resistance to any lowering of Social Security benefits see Cook and Jacobs “Assessing Assumptions”; Lawrence R.
Jacobs and Robert Y. Shapiro. "Is Washington Disconnected from Public Thinking about Social Security," The Public
Perspective, June/July 1998: 54-57; Lawrence R. Jacobs and Robert Y. Shapiro. "Myths and Misunderstandings About
Public Opinion Toward Social Security." In Framing the Social Security Debate. Edited by R. Douglas Arnold, Michael
Graetz, and Alicia Munnell (Brookings, 1998), pp.355-88.
43
Our question: “A proposal has been made that would allow or require people to put a portion of their Social Security
payroll taxes into personal retirement accounts that would be invested in private stocks and bonds. Some people think that
individuals would have more money for retirement if they were allowed to invest and manage some of their Social Security
payroll taxes themselves. Others think that it is too risky and could leave some people without adequate money for
retirement if the stock market were to decline in value significantly. Do you favor or oppose this proposal?”
44
Advisory Committee on Social Security.
45
Andrea Campbell, How Americans Think about Taxes: Public Opinion and the American Fiscal State (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, forthcoming); 9/07 draft, p.31. Campbell shows that the ups and downs in “too high” responses
reflect changes in effective tax rates and in the perceived benefits from government programs.
46
37 surveys between 11/68 and 7/07 by NES (18), CBS and/or NYT (10), and others. The 1958 and 1964 NES surveys
showed a more even balance between “a lot” and “some” waste, but only 10% and 7% “not very much.”
47
2005 figures from oecd.org.
48
ICR for NPR, Kaiser and Harvard, 2-3/03; PSRA for Pew, 6/01; Gallup for Times Mirror, 1-2/89.
49
Since our tax questions were asked toward the end of the Inequality Survey, one might object that respondents were
“primed” to think about attractive spending programs before they got to taxes. But that is precisely the point. We are
interested in what Americans think about taxes when they have in mind the real-world connections between taxing and
spending.
50
Princeton for Knight-Ridder 1/96 found that 68% favored using tax money for Food Stamps and 52% for welfare
benefits.
51
Roper for Fortune, 3/39; Gallup for GM, 4-5/98; Gallup, 4/07.
52
GSS 3/87, 3/00.
53
Bill Gates Sr. and Chuck Collins, “We Still Need the Estate Tax,” Miami Herald, December 26, 2006; Transcript of Bill
Moyers interview with Bill Gates Sr. and Chuck Collins, 1/17/03, at pbs.org.
54
In 2007 the maximum marginal tax rate on estate amounts well above the exclusion was 45% (see irs.gov.) The average
rate for most estates was lower than that.
55
Larry M. Bartels, “Unenlightened Self-Interest: The Strange Appeal of Estate-tax Repeal,” The American Prospect, May
17, 2004; Penn, Schoen 7/20-24/05 and 2/26/06 at coalition4americaspriorities.com; BNA, “Estate Taxes Poll Shows 85%
of Voters Favor Eliminating, Reducing Estate Tax,” at policyandtaxationgroup.com. Luntz tried to hype the 35% pro-repeal
figure up to 85% by lumping repealers together with those who favored reduced rates.
Convention