---
title: "Americans agree inequality has grown, but don’t agree on why"
description: "Two-thirds of Americans say the gap between the rich and everyone else has increased, but when asked why they cite dozens of different reasons."
date: "2014-04-28"
authors:
  - name: "Drew DeSilver"
    job_title: "Senior Writer/Editor"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/drew-desilver/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/04/28/americans-agree-inequality-has-grown-but-dont-agree-on-why/"
categories:
  - "Economic Conditions"
  - "Economic Inequality"
---

# Americans agree inequality has grown, but don’t agree on why

[![Chart listing some of the reasons Americans give for economic inequality](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2014/04/FT_14.04.28_ReasonsforInequality.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2014/04/FT_14.04.28_ReasonsforInequality.png)

Issues of economic inequality (however one [defines](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/18/the-many-ways-to-measure-economic-inequality/) it) are a part of the public discussion in a way they haven't been for a long time, driven both by economists such as [Thomas Piketty](http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/may/08/thomas-piketty-new-gilded-age/) and people's own experiences since the 2007-09 global financial panic. Americans have few doubts that inequality has grown: In a Pew Research Center [survey from January](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/01/23/most-see-inequality-growing-but-partisans-differ-over-solutions/), about two-thirds of respondents (65%) said the gap between the rich and everyone else has increased over the past decade, versus just 8% who said it's decreased.

But ask people *why* the gap has grown, and their answers are all over the place.

Among people who said the gap between the rich and everyone else has grown, we asked an "open-ended question" -- what, in their own words, the main reason was. About a fifth (20%) said tax loopholes (or, more generally, tax laws skewed to favor the rich) were the main reason. Ten percent pinned the blame on Congress or government policies more broadly; about as many (9%) cited the lackluster job market, while 6% named corporations or business executives.

But well over half of the people who saw a widening gap cited a host of other reasons, among them (in no particular order): Obama and Democrats, Bush and Republicans, the education system, the capitalist system, the stock market, banks, lobbyists, the strong/weak work ethic of the rich/poor, too much public assistance, not enough public assistance, over-regulation, under-regulation, the rich having more power and opportunity, the rich not spending enough, and simply "a lot of greedy people out there."

Here's a sampling of the comments our respondents made:

- "I think the wealthy have political clout that protects them from fair taxation."
- "Congress favors laws that help them accumulate wealth. Congress is bought by money."
- "Bringing in immigration has a lot to do with it."
- "The internet has made a lot of people richer."
- "Greedy people in positions such as banking."
- "Economics drilled our manufacturing jobs offshore. The middle class will continue to shrink until we can get some of those jobs back in the country."
- "It takes money to make money, and they have the money to make it."

Within the welter of responses, there were some clear partisan distinctions. More than a quarter (26%) of self-identified Democrats and those who lean Democratic cited the tax system as a main reason for the gap. Just 14% of self-identified Republicans and those who lean Republican said the same. Among self-identified liberal Democrats, roughly a third (32%) cited taxes. By contrast, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents were more likely (14%) to mention Congress or government policies than Democrats (8%). About one-in-ten (9%) Republicans and GOP-leaning independents cited poor people's work ethic and government assistance programs, compared with less than 1% of Democrats who said that.

***[See the questionnaire results and survey methodology here](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/legacy-questionnaires/4-28-14%20Inequality%20Topline.pdf).***