Bush Tax Cuts Validated in New Poll

A new poll conducted by Zogby International for The OLeary Report and The John Tower Center at Southern Methodist University found that a majority of Americans think the Bush tax cuts were good for them.

Los Angeles, CA, January 10, 2004 -- A new poll conducted by Zogby International for The OLeary Report and The John Tower Center at Southern Methodist University of 1,200 Americans with a margin of error of + 2.9% found that a majority of Americans think the Bush tax cuts were good for them.

The survey asked: Personally, were the Bush tax cuts good for you or bad for you?

Forty-one percent of Americans said the tax cuts were good for them. Another 31% of voters said the tax cuts made no difference and only 25% said the tax cuts were bad for them. These results validate the Bush tax cuts and demonstrate that Democratic presidential hopefuls Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt are out of touch with voter sentiment on this issue, said poll sponsor Bradley S. OLeary a veteran political consultant and publisher of The OLeary Report. The survey also found that 48% of voters who invest in the stock market or have a 401-K retirement plan thought the Bush tax cuts were good for them. Thirty-four percent of moderate Democrats even thought the Bush tax cuts were good for them compared to 30% who felt they were bad for them. Conservatives and Republicans overwhelmingly supported the Bush tax cuts. Married voters supported the Bush tax cuts by a 51% (good) to 20% (bad) margin. Single voters, in contrast, felt the tax cuts were bad for them by a margin of 34% to 25%.

The survey asked a second question: Suppose you earned one million dollars in your job. Which of the following tax rates do you think would be fair to you and the federal government? Less than 10%, 10-20%, 21-30%, or more than 30%.

The results repudiate Howard Deans assertion that Americas wealthy need to pay more in taxes. Twenty-nine percent of voters felt a tax rate between 10% and 20% was most appropriate while 28% said a tax rate of between 21% and 30% was fair. Only 21% of voters thought a tax rate of more than 30% was fair. The soak-the-rich rhetoric being heard from some of the Democratic presidential front-runners is not supported by a majority of Americans who feel a smaller tax rate for Americas wealthiest income earners is appropriate, said OLeary.

About Zogby International, The Tower Center and The OLeary Report
Zogby International (www.zogby.com) has been tracking public opinion since 1984 in North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe and is a leader in the public opinion field and regularly conducts polling for Reuters and MSNBC.

Southern Methodist Universitys The John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies (http://www.smu.edu/tower/) was established to support teaching and research programs in international studies and national security policy, focusing upon the institutions that structure national and international decision-making.

The OLeary Report (www.olearyreport.com), authored by political veteran Brad OLeary, began in 1997 as an outgrowth of the successful political newsletter, OLeary/Kamber Report, that ran through much of the 1980s and 1990s. Brad OLeary did point-counterpoint with Vic Kamber for USA Weekend and turned their newsletter into a weekly radio show on the NBC Mutual/Westwood One network for eight years. OLeary and Kamber also published a popular series of point-counterpoint books entitled, Are You a Republican or Democrat? and Are You a Conservative or a Liberal? which were used by high schools and campuses across the nation to help educate students on the issues facing America. The OLeary Report regularly surveys the American public on the issues of the day in cooperation with the polling firm of Zogby International.

The breakout of this latest poll as well as more details can be found on www.olearyreport.com after January 9, 2004.


For more information about the press conference please contact Clara Hickerson with Associated Television News at 323-556-5600 x109 or e-mail protected from spam bots.

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