GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
Princeton, NJ -- Part of the debate surrounding President George W. Bush's proposed tax cut plan revolves around what exactly it would mean to the average American. Democratic Congressmen and Senators recently held a press conference standing beside a new Lexus, reinforcing their contention that the richest Americans would be receiving large enough refunds to buy a luxury car. In comparison, they held up a car muffler to represent the more meager purchasing capability of the refunds they say would be obtained by the average taxpayer.
To probe the issue more thoroughly, we asked Americans in the February 9-11 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll to give us their own impressions of what they thought the tax cut would mean to them -- in dollars. The median response (which splits the sample into two groups, half above the median and half below) was $400. The arithmetical average (mean) response, which can sometimes be inflated by a relatively small number of people who give very large responses, was $791. The average response for the total sample, and the responses of various sub-groups, are represented below. In general, the higher the income and education, the higher the anticipated savings from a tax cut plan. At the same time, Conservatives and Republicans also give higher estimated savings than do Moderates, Liberals and Democrats.
Survey Methods
The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,016 adults, 18 years and older, conducted February 9-11, 2001. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
Just Your Best Guess, if there is a cut in federal income taxes, how much, in dollars, would you expect your own taxes to be cut per year?
Mean – In Dollars
February 9-11, 2001
Sample Size=1,016
Just Your Best Guess, if there is a cut in federal income taxes, how much, in dollars, would you expect your own taxes to be cut per year?
Mean – In Dollars
February 9-11, 2001
Sample Size=1,016
Just Your Best Guess, if there is a cut in federal income taxes, how much, in dollars, would you expect your own taxes to be cut per year?
Mean – In Dollars
February 9-11, 2001
Sample Size=1,016
