Poll: Most Americans support raising taxes on those making at least $400,000

Most Americans, including nearly half of Republicans, support raising taxes on people making at least $400,000 while keeping the current tax rates for everyone else, according to a new poll from The New York Times and SurveyMonkey.

About two-thirds of respondents said they supported higher taxes on those making $400,000 or more and maintaining tax rates for others. Eighty-eight percent of Democrats, 70 percent of independents and 45 percent of Republicans said they backed this idea.

The survey comes in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, during which President-elect Joe Biden pledged to not raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000.

The extent to which Biden will be able to raise taxes on the wealthy is likely to depend on the outcome of the two Jan. 5 Senate runoffs in Georgia. Democrats need to win both of the contests in order to have control of the Senate.

Several other policy proposals from Biden also garnered majority support in the survey.

Sixty-four percent of Americans said they support making four-year public colleges tuition-free for students from families that make less than $125,000. The proposal garnered support from 87 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of independents and 36 percent of Republicans.

Eighty-four percent of survey respondents said they backed an emergency paid leave plan to cover the salaries of sick workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Large majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents all expressed support for this idea.

The survey was conducted online from Nov. 9 to Nov. 15, and 3,477 adults participated. The poll has a modeled error estimate, similar to a margin of error, of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

The partisan categories consist of both people that identify with a political party and those that say they lean toward the party.