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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Age, Race, Gender, Income Influence Opinions On Issues

Brian C. Jones Providence Journal-Bulletin

Sharp divisions have split American society on vital issues of economics and politics, according to Brown University’s new poll.

Black and white, men and women, rich and poor and the old and the young see critical issues from vastly different vantage points, which in turn produces very divergent views.

For example, the very old and very young are split by a huge gap on the question of whether taxes should be increased so that all Americans can have medical care.

Asked if they’d be willing to pay more taxes to allow the federal government to provide medical insurance to all citizens, only 33 percent of those 55 years and older said yes.

But when asked the same question, people between 18 and 35 years old had a different response: 63 percent said yes.

The reason could be that older people already are covered by medical insurance - either in their jobs or by the federal old-age Medicare program - while younger workers are less likely to have coverage.

But these kind of night-day splits disturb Brown University political scientist Darrell M. West, who oversaw the poll conducted last month in preparation for an upcoming Brown University/Providence Journal-Bulletin public affairs conference about the economy and workers.

“There is always the risk of one group being pitted against another group,” West said. “That’s not a recipe for a very stable situation, because it basically breeds the politics of resentment.”

Here are some other major splits in the poll:

Men and women. Asked whether companies are less loyal to workers than they were 10 years ago, 78 percent of men said yes, but only 59 percent of women saw things that bleakly.

Non-white and white. Should welfare spending be reduced? Yes, said 67 percent of whites; but only 44 percent of non-whites agreed.

Rich and poor. Only 27 percent of persons earning more than $75,000 yearly said that they had not benefited from an improved economy. But 55 percent of those earning $30,000 or less indicated they had not shared the prosperity.