Differences in Income, Policy Preferences, and Priorities in American Public Opinion.

Recent empirical studies have demonstrated what political scientists have long warned; that the political opinions of the wealthy are better reflected in the decisions of elected officials and in government policies compared to the opinions of the poor. But for unequal political representation to occur, there must be variation in political preferences across income groups. Two recent articles in PS: Political Science & Politics cast doubt on the proposition that political preferences vary much depending on one's income (Soroka and Wlezien 2008; Ura and Ellis 2008). In contrast, using multiple sources of survey data, I find citizens with lower incomes are more likely to support increased spending on redistributive policies such as aid to the poor and food stamps compared to citizens with higher incomes and that these differences are larger than those based on education or gender. I also find that citizens with low incomes are more socially conservative than the affluent. Finally, I find some evidence that differences in political preferences extend to within the states as well, which has important consequences for the understudied concern of political inequality at the state level. Together, the opinion data presented here generally shows important differences in political preferences and priorities based on citizens' incomes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]