Does a Growing Income Gap Affect Political Attitudes?

Abstract

Few have asked about political implications of increasing income inequalities in Canada. Over several generations, those in higher echelons have enjoyed considerable growth, while those in lower tiers have seen no growth, or worse, declines. This leads us to ask whether there also exists a bifurcation of political attitudes, with those in the lower income tiers showing more negative orientations compared to those who fare much better. More precisely, we examine whether growing income inequality—mainly the growing income gap—has any measurable effect on political attitudes. We approach this study by incorporating econometric data from Statistics Canada and survey data from the Canadian Election Study, spanning from the early 1990s to 2011.