Poll: Democrats, Republicans have different views of the wealthy

But according to Pew, their latest polling finds that Romney and Republicans have the stiffer test when it comes to wooing middle-income voters. The poll also found stark differences between how Democrats and Republicans view the wealthy and the poor. 

{mosads}Roughly seven in 10 respondents thought that a President Romney would implement policies that helped the wealthy, and 63 percent said Republicans generally looked out for the rich instead of the middle- and lower-classes.

Meanwhile, half of the nation’s adults believe Obama’s policies will help the middle class, compared to four in 10 for Romney. Roughly twice as many people — 60 percent to 31 percent — think that Obama would help the poor. 

Obama and top Democrats on Capitol Hill have been pushing to allow current tax rates for family income more than $250,000 a year to expire at the end of the year, while leading GOP officials have been calling for an extension of all current rates. 

Pew’s poll also found that those who classify themselves as upper or upper-middle class were more likely to be healthy, less stressed out and less likely to have been hit hard by the downturn in the economy. 

Americans also say the gap between the rich and poor has grown in recent years. The Congressional Budget Office reported last year that the highest earners had seen their income rise much more quickly than other income groups in the last three decades.  

At the same time, Republicans and Democrats also have strikingly different opinions of the wealthy. Roughly four in 10 believe that the richest Americans are work harder than the average person, including more than half of Republicans, and just a third of Democrats. 

Democrats are also much more likely than Republicans to believe that the wealthiest are greedy. Half of all respondents said they didn’t have an opinion about whether the wealthy were more intelligent, but Republicans were more likely than Democrats to feel that way.   

And while Americans may feel that the rich aren’t paying enough, around 90 percent of people believe that the middle-class is either overtaxed or pays its fair share. 

But a full fifth of adults believe that the lower-class does not pay enough in taxes, following reports that more than 40 percent of taxpayers don’t pay any income tax. (Many of those taxpayers do pay other taxes, like sales taxes or payroll taxes.)

Around seven in 10 believe that the poor pay either too much or the right amount in taxes. 

Republicans were more likely to say that the poor paid too little than too much, while roughly four in five Democrats said the rich didn’t pay enough.