Dems Favor Economic Redistribution by 2 to 1 Over Republicans

With the radical liberation politics of Jeremiah Wright back in the news (see my entry, "Reconciliation or Retaliation: Jeremiah Wright's Next Round"), I found troubling news in Gallup's recent survey data on public support for economic distribution.

For example, a clear majority of 51 percent favor increasing taxes on the wealthy, which is bothersome, since those at the highest levels of income pay the overwhelming bulk of federal income taxes (Gallup's data find the highest support for economic distribution since 1939!)

Further, Democrat partisans, by a 2 to 1 margin over Republicans, favor redistributing economic wealth by imposing heavy taxes on the rich, as Frank Newport indicates in this video:

Here's more from Gallup:

Slightly over half of Americans believe the government should redistribute wealth by heavy taxes on the rich....

Asked if the distribution of money and wealth in this country is fair or if they need to be distributed more evenly, about two-thirds of Americans agree with the latter response. This is up slightly from last year and, by two points, is the highest "more evenly distributed" response to this question that Gallup has found over the eight times it has been asked since 1984.

So, in the context of powerful issues of economics and social class, the electorate in 2008 is more favorable to a fundamental - no, radical - redistribution of economic wealth than at any time in last 70 years.

Numbers like this portend electoral conditions on the scale of a political earthquake.

Fortunately, the Democrats have yet to be able to center on a party nominee, and the residual divisions from the nomination fight will likely blunt some of the left-wing tailwind the party would otherwise be likely to enjoy.

For more, see "McCain Running Strong as Democrats Tumble."