Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 70% tax on the super-rich is more popular than Trump's tax cuts, new poll shows

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 70% tax on the super-rich is more popular than Trump's tax cuts, new poll shows

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

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  • After Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez floated hiking marginal tax rates on the super-rich, conservatives argued the proposal would be political suicide for Democrats.
  • But according to an INSIDER poll, a plurality of Americans support a 70% tax rate on income over $10 million.
  • In fact, support for Ocasio-Cortez's proposal is higher than support for last year's Republican tax cuts.

After New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed taxing income over $10 million at a 60-70% rate, conservatives characterized the policy as socialism and argued it would gain little traction with voters.

But recent polling, including a new INSIDER poll, has found strong support for hiking marginal tax rates on the super-rich.

INSIDER asked respondents how they felt about lifting the tax rate to 70% for all income earned over $10 million, while keeping tax rates for income below the $10 million threshold at the current rates.

Overall, 38.7% supported the tax hike, while 34.4% opposed it. 13.5% of respondents said they didn't have an opinion.

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Americans generally believe that as incomes increase, so should tax rates. A Reuters poll last October found that three-quarters of Americans believe the wealthiest in society should pay higher tax rates.

So far, Ocasio-Cortez's proposal is polling better than the 2017 Republican tax cuts.

According to an October Gallup poll, 39% of Americans approve of the tax cuts, while 46% disapprove. 51% of respondents said the tax cuts hadn't yet helped them financially.

Read more: THE TRUTH ABOUT ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: The inside story of how, in just one year, Sandy the bartender became a lawmaker who triggers both parties

INSIDER conducted a SurveyMonkey Audience poll on a national sample from January 15-16. We had 1,095 respondents for a margin of error of about +/-3.11%.

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Overall, 24% of those surveyed identified as very or somewhat conservative, 29% as very or somewhat liberal, with the rest as slightly conservative or liberal, neither conservative nor liberal, or they'd rather not say.

SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn't try to weight its sample based on race or income. Total 1,095 respondents, a margin of error plus or minus 3.11 percentage points with a 95% confidence level.

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