18
These results suggest that the tax cut was extremely popular, especially when it was associated
with President Bush.
* * * Figure 3 * * *
However, unlike the question about repealing the inheritance tax, the tax cut question
invited respondents to admit that they “haven’t thought about” whether they favored or opposed
the 2001 tax cut. Remarkably, in view of the fiscal and political significance of the tax cut, more
than 40% of the respondents availed themselves of that opportunity. Even associating the tax cut
with President Bush only reduced that proportion to about 35%, while asking about the tax cut
“Congress passed” left more than 45% of the sample unable to say whether they favored or
opposed it.
Taken at face value, the results of opinion surveys—including the results from the 2002
NES survey presented in Figures 2 and 3—provide considerable evidence of strong public
support for tax cuts along the lines pursued by President Bush. However, the fact that more than
40% of the respondents in the NES survey admitted that the 2001 tax cut was something they
“haven’t thought about” suggests that public opinion in this domain probably should not be taken
wholly at face value. Notwithstanding the vastness of the stakes, public thinking about this issue
seems to have been remarkably superficial.
A good deal of further evidence of public inattention and uncertainty in the general domain
of tax policy appeared in the 2003 survey of Americans’ views on taxes sponsored by NPR, the
Kaiser Foundation, and the Kennedy School. Asked whether they pay more in federal income
tax or Social Security and Medicare tax, 34% of respondents said they didn’t know (and most of
Convention