Back in January, Lynn Vavreck, Joshua Tucker, and I asked this
question: what would happen if people knew more specific details
about Mitt Romney’s income and tax rate? We conducted a simple
experiment the exposed people to information about these topics.
In this post, I will report on a new iteration of this
experiment, which seems particularly timely in light of this
Obama ad, for example. In our first study, we found that
Americans tended to think that Romney did not pay his “fair
share” of taxes. In a July 28-30 YouGov poll, the same was true,
and perhaps even more so. Compare perceptions of Romney and
Obama in January vs. July: During these six months, the
percentage who had no opinion about what Obama and Romney paid
has declined. For both candidates, the percentage saying that
they paid less than their fair share has increased (by about 5
points). Romney’s disadvantage on this issue remains: a slight
majority of Americans now believe that he does not pay his fair
share. And this is not something that o