Stacked

Stacked Against Me

By Neil King Jr.

At last, we have an important question upon which a majority of Americans—regardless of race, political persuasion or walk of life—agree.

Are the country’s economic and political systems stacked against people like you? Yes, say 56% of Americans, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

The last time disenchantment hit the same level was in July 1992, amid economic jitters and the heat of the Clinton vs. Bush campaign, but that was a brief spike. This time, alienation has built steadily since 2002, when just over a third of Americans felt the system was stacked against them.

So through two administrations, and despite notable improvements in the economy in the past two years, public unease over the political and economic systems has continued to climb.

Most striking is how widely shared this sense of alienation now is.

Among those saying the system is stacked against them are 58% of Democrats; 51% of Republicans; 55% of whites; 60% of blacks; 53% of Hispanics; as well as decent majorities of every age and professional cluster, including blue-collar workers, white-collar workers and retirees.

So who are the rare outliers who feel more in synch with the system? Not surprisingly, those who are well off and well educated. Among those with post-graduate degrees, just 38% say they feel the system is stacked against them. Among those who earn more than $75,000 a year, 44% feel that way.

If this disenchantment with the status quo is becoming a fixture of the American psyche, tapping it—much less easing it—won’t be easy for the average politician.

Among the disenchanted lurk wide disagreements over what the problems are. A majority of Republicans who feel things are stacked against them say the government is doing too much, while an even larger majority of Democrats of similar mind think the government should do more.

Anyone running for the White House in 2016 will want to appeal to this huge block of the politically and economically alienated.

Who among the potential 2016 candidates does this contingent like? No one, all that much. Among a dozen national figures considered possible contenders, just three enjoy a net positive image in the eyes of this bloc: Republican Sen. Rand Paul, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

And among those, who has the biggest spread in positive goodwill? Perhaps not surprisingly, populist firebrand Ms. Warren.

The WSJ/NBC poll of 1,000 adults was conducted from Nov. 14-17, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.