Russel Sage Foundation

In the last decade, Americans in the top ten percent of the income distribution have increasingly expressed support for redistributive policies including aid to the poor, healthcare for the sick, and higher taxes on the rich. Yet little is known about the causes of these emerging trends. Doctoral student in sociology Karyn Vilbig will examine the role of the Great Recession, greater public focus on the top one percent, increased affective polarization, and the Black Lives Matter Movement on rising support for redistributive policies among high-income voters. She will conduct a survey experiment for her study.