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Low-income U.S. nationals were more likely than people who are well-off financially to say the system works for wealthy insiders.
Around 57 percent of United States voters believe that their political system only works for insiders with money and power, a new Hill-HarrisX poll revealed Tuesday.
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"This is a very clear concern that the majority of voters have that the economic system and the political system, which of course are intertwined, only work for those who are wealthy or who are well connected," President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute Felicia Wong told The Hill.
The poll found various demographic splits on the issue.
Low-income U.S. nationals were more likely than people who are well-off financially to say the system works for wealthy insiders, 61 to 55 percent respectively. Women were 12 percent more likely than men, and Democratic and independent voters were more likely than Republicans to say the U.S. government is designed to serve powerful elites.
The poll, which had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, was conducted online among 1,002 registered voters between March 22 and 23.
This comes as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on the U.S. with over 216,000 cases reported Wednesday and over 5,000 death. The health emergency has also resulted in an economic recession with over three million filings for unemployment last week.
Meanwhile, the United States Congress passed a US$2 trillion bill aimed at helping unemployed workers and industries hurt by the coronavirus epidemic.
The stimulus package, which is biggest ever passed by Congress, includes a US$500 billion fund to help hard-hit industries and a comparable amount for direct payments of up to US$3,000 apiece to millions of U.S. families.
U.S. progressives are warning about a little-noticed provision in the massive stimulus bill that would allow employers to stop paying into Social Security for at least the rest of the year, potentially threatening the program's long-term financial health as Common Dreams reported.
"The American public is very concerned that the money is used to support workers, to keep employees on payroll and that it not be used for things like stock buybacks or excessive CEO pay," Wong added.
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