Does opposition to redistribution usually increase during bad economic times? The answer is no for many examples that come to my head. But what I do know is an effect of a bad economy is animosity toward whomever is in power. It is plausible the recession simply correlates with “disputing positions associated with Barack Obama”.
This was one of my first thoughts, too. Most people are uninformed about politics and economics, and do not go much beyond “blaming the government (and by extension the policies associated with it) when stuff goes badly, and credit it when it goes well”. One could in principle test it by making similar polls about attitudes to redistribution in countries that have had right-wing governments during most of the recession. In general, one must first check that effects of this kind are independent of contingent, local political cicumstances, before seeking explanations in terms of universal psychological mechanisms.
Most people are uninformed about politics and economics, and do not go much beyond “blaming the government (and by extension the policies associated with it) when stuff goes badly, and credit it when it goes well”.
This has been historically validated, at least to the extent of a significant swing of a few percent (which is usually enough to tip an election if it happens nationally).
This was one of my first thoughts, too. Most people are uninformed about politics and economics, and do not go much beyond “blaming the government (and by extension the policies associated with it) when stuff goes badly, and credit it when it goes well”. One could in principle test it by making similar polls about attitudes to redistribution in countries that have had right-wing governments during most of the recession. In general, one must first check that effects of this kind are independent of contingent, local political cicumstances, before seeking explanations in terms of universal psychological mechanisms.
This has been historically validated, at least to the extent of a significant swing of a few percent (which is usually enough to tip an election if it happens nationally).