"cognitivedissonance:  A new Pew Research Center survey of 2,048 adults finds that about two-thirds of the public (66%) believes there are ""very strong"" or ""strong"" conflicts between the rich and the poor—an increase of 19 percentage points since 2009. More findings: Nearly one-third of Americans say there are ""very strong conflicts"" between poor people and rich people, double the proportion that offered a similar view in July 2009.   Conflicts between rich and poor now rank ahead of three other potential sources of group tension—between immigrants and the native born; between blacks and whites; and between young and old. Younger adults, women, Democrats and African Americans are somewhat more likely than older people, men, Republicans, whites or Hispanics to say there are strong disagreements between rich and poor. However, people's perception of why the rich become rich has not changed much. Pew Research points out similar opinions to the ones below were found in 2008:  Pew uncovered one very interesting point:  The biggest increases in perceptions of class conflicts occurred among political liberals and Americans who say they are not affiliated with either major party. In each group the proportion who say there are major disagreements between rich and poor Americans increased by more than 20 percentage points since 2009.  Emphasis mine. Could this mean independents could be an even bigger influence than usual in 2012? And what does that mean for both parties? Maybe talking about jobs and the economy isn't the worst move… The GOP's constant denial of the existence of class warfare and incongruent insistence President Obama sparked it may also backfire."
{}