John Merline at Investor’s Business Daily reported Monday that the hot media topics of income inequality and immigration are “are wildly out of touch with the American public, according to the latest IBD/TIPP Poll.”
When asked which should be a top priority of the president and Congress, 49 percent said the economy and jobs. Another 16 percent picked the national debt, and nine percent named national security. Just 6 percent picked either immigration or income inequality:
Among independents, immigration ranked even lower as a priority, with just 3% putting it at the top of the list.
Not even Democrats think income inequality or immigration should be a top agenda item. While 47% put the economy and jobs first, just 12% put income inequality at the top of the list, slightly ahead of immigration at 11%...
Obama late last year called the growing income gap "a fundamental threat" to the country and said closing it would be the "focus of all our efforts." Income inequality also formed the core of his State of the Union address last week, with the president saying that "our job is to reverse these trends."
But fully 61% of those asked say that Obama doesn't have his priorities straight. And not only does the public think income inequality is a low priority item, most disagree with Obama's approach.
More than two-thirds (67%) say the government's focus should be on increasing opportunities to "produce and earn more," rather than cutting the gap between rich and poor.
This view is shared across the board — by young and old, male and female, black and white, urban and suburban, those with just a high-school diploma and those with college degrees.
Indeed, the only group that thinks otherwise is self-identified liberals, 59% of whom put closing the income gap first over "creating an environment to help people produce and earn more."
