Most Americans believe President Barack Obama's policies have favored the rich while not benefiting the middle class or poor, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.
Seventy-two percent of the 1,504 respondents said government policies since the recession have done little or nothing to help middle class people, while almost as many - 68 percent - said they have provided little or no help for small businesses, and 65 percent believe they haven't helped the poor.
Sixty-six percent said they believe government policies have instead helped wealthy people a "great deal/fair amount."
As the Daily Caller notes, outside data seems to support the view that middle class families are worse off now than they were at the beginning of the century.
In January 2015, the median household income was $54,332, which is 3.9 percent lower than January 2000, according to a March report by Sentier Research. That means half of the population earned above that amount, and half earned below.
Most respondents - 72 percent - also believe that the government has helped large banks and financial institutions at least a fair amount, while 45 percent said policies have helped a "great deal."
Sixty-seven percent said policies have benefited large corporations.
When it comes to small businesses, though, far less believe the government has provided at least a fair amount of help. Only 43 percent of Democrats and 14 percent of Republicans said policies have helped the little guy.
A recent study from Princeton and Northwestern Universities lends itself to these findings as well, essentially concluding that the U.S. is an oligarchy ruled by the wealthy, not a democracy.
"The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence," the study reads. "Our results provide substantial support for theories of Economic Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism."
