Re-examining US perceptions of its own economy and its own division
WSJ/NBC conducted a poll to look at differences in voters' views of the economy, namely which groups of people they thought most benefited from the current economy. A summary of the results:
TRUMP VOTERS vs CLINTON VOTERS
Whites: 52 to 70 percent
Men: 61 vs 69 percent
College grads: 51 vs 57 percent
Those w/o degree: 40 vs 18 percent
Women: 57 vs 34 percent
Minorities: 48 vs 12 percent
These results are not that surprising. What I found peculiar was the next set of results...
Wealthy: 87 vs 92 percent
Corporations: 79 to 78 percent
Small business owners: 28 to 30 percent
If you look at the results, Americans on the left and right seem to be really on the same page when it comes to the wealthy and business owners. But I would even argue that, with the exception of differences in opinions about whites and women, in general, Trump and Clinton voters tend to be on the same page across the board, sort of (at least this sample was!)
This led me to wonder, what exactly is the source driving the US political division?
Is it the media? Is it stereotypes? Is it Americans' sheepish nature? Is it celebrities' exploitation of the young? Poor education?
Here were my initial thoughts: these statistics nearly contradicts each political side's perceptions of one another. This is mostly shown through the results of perceptions on the wealthy and corporations.
The left believe the right (conservatives), described implicitly via those who voted for which candidate, are all money-hungry evil capitalists in pursuit of money and would do anything to defend corporations and the wealthy, which make up most of them (supposedly)...but the right are just as wary of the wealthy and corporations as the left. It is literally almost an exact match in numbers.
The right believe themselves champions of capitalists and that the left are nothing but a bunch of socialists/communists who are out to kill the economy in their recklessness. But at the same time, they're just as wary of the corporations and groups of people the left go after.
The easy culprit in creating this division is the media. But is that really true? Or at least, to what extent is it really true? Certainly the media's identity politics could be an easy explanation for the differences in opinions of whites and minorities, but where does the division even come from for those without a degree?
Is right and left-winged media creating similar reports about wealthy individuals and corporations? If so, then where did divided perceptions of the left and right with respect to capitalism even come from?
I think I lack enough life experience to really come up with an answer or to dive further deeply into the topic. So I'd like to hear your thoughts on this,
What is driving the division found in the US?
Feel free to share your thoughts.
