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. With Tax rates and American-ness, revisited
Posted by Rob Walker on November 5, 2008
Posted Under: Politics
Posted Under: Politics
As a footnote to the other day’s post, and to the election, The Wealth Report notes that Obama “won 52% of the votes of those earning $200,000 or more. That compares with Sen. John McCain’s 46% showing for the same group.”
Why? Wealth Report offers three possibilities, truncated here (see the whole post for details):
First, the wealthy, like many voters, may have placed a higher emphasis on the state of the nation than the state of their wallets. …
Another possibility is that the wealthy don’t believe Sen. Obama will go through with his tax increase — at least not right away…
Finally (and perhaps least likely), the wealthy may be responding to Sen. Joe Biden’s argument that paying higher taxes is patriotic….
Country first!
Further diversion may be found at MKTG Tumblr, and the Consumed Facebook page.
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Reader Comments
I’d say that a high percentage of the wealthy are educated, and a certain number of them have a certain pride in their intellect. Obama’s professorial style may have appealed to them. On the other side, I can’t imagine they found much to like in a campaign centered on Wm Ayres and Joe the Plumber.
I honestly don’t find this surprising at all. While it may seem contradictory, it does make sense. Do you really think a physician is concerned with paying a tiny bit more in taxes? No. I worked at a doctor’s office for two years, and the doctors all voted for Obama. They are well off financially and they know it… the taxes don’t bother them.
What DOES bother them is the same thing that bothers every American – the economy in general… their retirement savings… national security… HEALTH INSURANCE. Clearly, taxes were not the main things on voters’ minds yesterday.
Interesting post. This provoked some thought, but in the end, I’m not surprised.
Well, he did win the election 52-46. So maybe it’s just that rich people aren’t different from other people, sometimes.
A small increase in taxes is nothing compared to losing 25-30% of your accumulated retirement wealth in little under three months. McCain gave no confidence to these folks that he would be able to reverse the negative flow.