Pew finds more Americans now call for full rebuild of economic system

Confidence that change is possible remains low across both parties

A Pew Research poll released Wednesday found that a growing share of Americans who see too much economic inequality now want the country’s economic system rebuilt from the ground up, with 24% of those polled saying it needs to be completely rebuilt — up from 14% in 2019.

Among Americans polled, 35% now say no amount of economic inequality is acceptable, up from 29% in the earlier survey, according to Pew.

“Both Democrats and Republicans who see too much inequality are now more likely to say the country’s economic system requires major changes or needs to be completely rebuilt in order to address it,” Pew said.

The overall share of Americans saying there is too much economic inequality in the United States remains at about 61%, little changed from 2019. But partisan differences are wide: about 78% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning respondents said there is too much inequality, compared with about 42% of Republicans and Republican-leaning respondents.

Despite the growing appetite for change, confidence the system can actually be changed is low across both parties. Among those who say both that there is too much inequality and that major changes are needed, 11% of Republicans and 8% of Democrats said they were “extremely or very confident” the system can be effectively changed. On the other side, 70% of Democrats and 55% of Republicans in this group said they were not very or not at all confident such change can happen.

Republicans and Democrats who agree there is too much inequality diverge sharply on what they see as the causes. Of Republicans in this group, 59% said people’s life choices contribute a great deal, compared with 28% of Democrats in the same group.

Among Democrats who see too much inequality, 65% said the U.S. tax system contributes a great deal to economic inequality and 60% said insufficient regulation of major corporations contributes a great deal. About 54% said people starting out with more opportunities than others contributes a great deal.

On responsibility for reducing inequality, 70% of Americans who see too much of it said the federal government should have “a lot of responsibility,” up from 66% in 2019. About 57% said state governments should have a lot of responsibility, up from 52%. About 57% also said large businesses and corporations should have a lot of responsibility, down from 62% in the prior poll.

Democrats were far more likely than Republicans to say those three entities, plus wealthy individuals, should play a major role in reducing inequality.

The poll results are based on a survey of 5,166 U.S. adults conducted between Aug. 24 and Aug. 30.