A growing number of American Youth now find that it is bad thing for the country to have people with billions of dollars or more as their personal fortunes. However, a majority of the people are doubtful if billionaire thing is good or bad. The PEW Research Centre, which held the survey, revealed this recently.
The survey gains significance as several billionaires made headlines in recent months for philanthropy, space exploration and entertainment.
About 29 per cent of the Americans or three in ten people say that it is a bad thing for the country to have people with such personal fortunes. However, there is a growing trend with only 23 per cent saying so in January 2020. Moreover, the percentage of people that say billionaires are a good thing for the country has come down from 19 per cent to 15 per cent.
DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS
The survey held in July finds that both Democrats and Republicans think now more negatively about the impact of billionaires. Among the two, Democrats remain far more likely than Republicans to hold this view, the survey noted. The PEW Centre said that the percentage of Democrats who believe that billionaires are bad for the country increased by eight points since 2020. The survey also maintained that the Liberal Democrats would say more that it is a bad thing for the country with people having billions of personal fortunes. Among the conservative and moderate Democrats, the survey finds that 32 per cent opined that billionaires were bad for the country and only 12 per cent it was good.
Among the Republicans, the share of those who believe that billionaires are bad for the country increased by five points (from nine per cent to 14 per cent). Moreover, the survey also found a decrease in the percentage of people who believed it was good. This came down to 21 per cent from 28 percent. However, moderate and liberal Republicans say that billionaires is bad (20 per cent) as well as good ( 16 per cent) for the country. Among the conservative Republicans, about 24 per cent say it is good for the country and 11 per cent say it as bad.
WHITE, HISPANIC AND ASIAN
The PEW Research noted that about 30 per cent White, 32 per cent of Hispanic and 34 per cent of Asian American adults say that having billionaires is a bad thing for the country. However, only 19 per cent of the black adults think so.
ADULTS
The PEW Research notes that younger adults are more likely than older adults to say that having billionaires is bad for the country. Moreover, the survey finds that this age gap has grown wider over the last year. Half of the adults under 30 years of age say that billionaire people have majority of the fortunes is bad for America. Last year, this was only 39 per cent, the researchers said. The people aged 30 to 49 years also say this and their percentage have gone up from 24 per cent last year. The researchers say that about two-in-ten adults aged 50 and older say billionaires are bad for the country.
Within the democrats and the Republicans, adults under 30 years of age are more likely than older people to have negative views about people with billion-dollar fortunes. While three-in-ten Republicans aged 18 to 29 years say it is a bad thing, 16 per cent of Republicans aged 30 to 49 say this. Nine per cent of those aged 50 to 64 and eight per cent aged 65 and older share the same opinion.
Among Democrats, 61 per cent aged 18 to 29 years find that billionaires are bad for the country. Among the Democrats aged 30 to 49 years, 47 per cent believe so. Meanwhile, 24 per cent of the Democrats aged 50 to 64 years and 32 per cent aged 65 and older think so.
