Yes, the Rich Are Different — Pew Research

• The total U.S. median annual income for a “wealthy” family is $150,000, but that varies between $200,000 in the Northeast to $150,000 in the Midwest and South.
• 43% of respondents said the rich are more likely to be intelligent and 42% said they are more likely to be hardworking.
• 55% said the rich are more likely to be greedy and 34% said they are less likely to be honest.
• Still, 92% of the self-described middle class and 84% of the self-described lower class say they admire people who get rich by working hard.
• 58% say upper income people pay too little in taxes.
• 44% of Republicans said upper-income people pay their fair share of taxes compared with just 13% of Democrats.
• More than three-quarters of Democrats say upper-income people pay too little in taxes, and (perhaps surprisingly) 33% of Republicans say the same thing.

A large number of respondents — 65% — say the income gap between rich and poor has gotten larger in the past 10 years and 57% say that is a “bad thing.”

Finally, on the coming elections, 71% of respondents said Mitt Romney’s policies would benefit the wealthy, while just 40% said the policies would benefit the middle class and 31% said his policies would benefit the poor. According to 37% of respondents, President Obama’s policies would benefit the rich, and 50% said his policies would benefit the middle class and 60% said the policies would benefit the poor.

The full survey report is available here.

Paul Ausick