Inequality: the latest data on what the public thinks

Last month I blogged about some of the findings from the British Social Attitudes survey, showing how the British public think the income gap in our society is too large but there is only minority support for the government directly redistributing income.

Today the latest British Social Attitudes survey is out and its findings paint a similar picture. To quote from the news release:

• While 75 per cent agree that the income gap between rich and poor is too large, only just over a third (35%) believe government should redistribute more to solve the problem.
• There is continued concern that unemployment benefits are too high and that they discourage the unemployed from finding jobs – over half (54 per cent) agree with this sentiment, up from 35 per cent in 1983.
• Although people see child poverty as an issue that government must tackle, 63 per cent believe that parents who “don’t want to work” are a reason why some children live in poverty…
• After hitting a peak of 63 per cent just nine years ago, support for tax increases to spend more on public services such as health care and education has dropped to 31 per cent in the latest survey.
• The British public is increasingly at ease with the idea of higher earners buying private health care. While 38 per cent thought this “wrong” in 1999, the figure has dropped to 24 per cent in the latest survey. There is a similar trend for education.

In other words, whilst there is strong support for the idea of taking action to reduce the income gap, and despite the growing inequality and evidence that the whole country benefits from tackling inequality, this and the previous data taken together show there is also strong opposition to many of the measures either liberals or those on the centre-left propose in response.