The latest Pew poll on Occupy Wall Street finds some decidedly mixed feelings out there, with Americans generally expressing much more sympathy with the concerns of the movement than with its tactics. But when Pew moved a bit away from the focus on OWS and asked some more general questions about wealth and power they revealed what more or less looks like a nation of hardened class warriors. Huge majorities of self-identified Democrats and clear majorities of self-identified independents say that there’s too much power in the hands of a few rich people, that the country’s economic system unfairly favors the wealthy, and that Wall Street does more to hurt the economy than to help it.
Under the circumstances, we should expect to see Democrats continue to double down on “tax the rich” themes and populist messages.
