PEW released a report on its polling data about income inequality. To see their report: Click Here
They state:
“There is broad public agreement that economic inequality has grown over the past decade. But as President Obama prepares for Tuesday’s State of the Union, where he is expected to unveil proposals for dealing with inequality and poverty, there are wide partisan differences over how much the government should – and can – do to address these issues.”

“Partisans Agree Inequality Has Grown, But Differ Sharply over Gov’t Action: The new national survey by the Pew Research Center and USA TODAY, conducted Jan. 15-19 among 1,504 adults, finds that 65% believe the gap between the rich and everyone else has increased in the last 10 years. This view is shared by majorities across nearly all groups in the public, including 68% of Democrats and 61% of Republicans.”

The report provides a number of interesting tables. But for me, the consistent message is that those who identify as Republican are very much out of step with the rest of those polled. It is not suprising in our partisan-divided world that they would have different views than those that see themselves as Democrats. If I was a Republican consultant, however, I would be very concerned about the differences between them and the Independents. With over 50% calling themselves Independents, it is this group that will make the difference in elections. Without them, the appealing solely to the party’s base will not be enough.

PEW provides two useful links:
One is: 5 facts about income inequality: Click Here
A second article is a discussion about the challenges in measuring income inequality (operationalizing the concept is the more technical language): Click Here