How Democrats And Republicans Differ On Matters Of Wealth And Equality

Lee Drutman was quoted in Forbes about voters' economic views.

The fact that lower-income Republicans, largely known as the “basket of deplorables,” support more social spending and taxing the rich was a key takeaway from this year’s report, says Lee Drutman, senior fellow on the political reform program at New America, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.

”It is pretty striking that about a fifth of Republicans had views closer to the median Democrat than their own party,” he says. “A lot of them actually want a sizeable social welfare state. It’s a little bit of a puzzle why they don’t vote for the Democratic Party, other than long-standing cultural ties maybe and other ballot issues. What we have here is just one of the two parties stands out to have a bunch of its supporters in opposition to some of the party’s economic platforms but still gives them their vote."

Across party lines, only 37% of respondents said they supported government getting active in reducing differences in income, close to the 39% who opposed it outright. Some 24% had no opinion on the subject.