Where Are We Going – Trends from 1994 to 2007, Success, Poverty and Government Responsibility

Summarized below are the major findings from section 2 of the Pew Research survey, Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007.

There is a recent increase in belief that the rich are getting richer, but it has been stronger at other times historically and it hasn’t changed noticeably since 1994.

There is growing belief that “It is the responsibility of the government to take care of people who can’t take care of themselves.”

There is still a strong belief that the poor become dependent on government assistance, however this belief is not as strong as it was in 1994.

Blacks and Democrats are more inclined to believe that “Success in life is pretty much determined by forces outside our control,” but this belief has decreased since 1994 for all groups, especially for Republicans.

The survey stated, “The public’s evaluations of personal financial satisfaction is increasingly split along partisan lines and the gap between Republicans and Democrats is the largest it has been since the Pew values surveys began 20 years ago.”

This increase in Republican satisfaction is very puzzling to me. First of all it has been out of sync with the rest of the country since 1994. Secondly, as I have documented in 2006 Tax Cut Update – Evangelical Losses Even Larger, “white evangelical Protestants, all Republicans, are getting poorer and getting less from the 2006 tax cut.”

Why would Republicans be satisfied when others aren’t and they are affected by the same changes? Is it because they all watch The Happy Channel – Fox News? After all, it was launched in late 1996.