Many Americans feel a division between those who are wealthy and those who are not in this country, a new NBC News poll found.
The poll, released on Thursday and sponsored by the nonpartisan nonprofit organization More Perfect, found that the majority of those surveyed believe most Americans share the same core values.
But that same majority of survey respondents (54%) also agreed that most Americans disagree about policies and issues.
Namely, 81% of those surveyed for the poll said the wealthy and non-wealthy are more divided than united. Just 17% said these groups are more united than divided.
It comes as the rich around the world are getting richer.
In 2025, billionaire wealth worldwide jumped by more than 16% to $18.3 trillion — its highest level in history, according to data from Oxfam. In America, wealth skews decisively toward those who are older; Americans ages 45 and under control only 11% of the nation's wealth, per household data from the Federal Reserve.
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Many Americans feel the wealthy avoid consequences, poll finds
While the poll included a variety of questions related to politics and policy issues, some of its most decisive findings related to questions about wealth.
In addition to the majority of respondents agreeing with division based on wealth, some also indicated that wealth may also carry privilege.
When asked whether wealthy people in the U.S. can often avoid consequences that ordinary people would face for the same actions, 69% of respondents said they strongly agree, and 17% said they somewhat agree.
Some of those surveyed who spoke to NBC News, like Josh Webb, a 30-year-old Democrat from Tennessee who works in manufacturing, said they believe the wealthy and non-wealthy live in "completely different worlds."
But some also said the differences came down to opportunities.
Mark, a 36-year-old Ohio Republican who works in lawn care, told the outlet: "I’m far from wealthy, but there’s no difference between me and the guy that owns the company that I work for. I have the same work ethic; he just had better opportunities, and he took them. When I had those opportunities, I didn’t take them."
Aside from the 54% of those surveyed who said most Americans share the same core values but disagree about policies and issues, respondents were also asked about division between certain groups of people.
For example, 59% of respondents said they believe people of different races or ethnic backgrounds have more that unites than divides them. Similarly, 55% said the same of immigrants and those born in the U.S.
The poll, which surveyed 3,000 adults nationally from May 29-June 7, has a margin of error of plus-minus 1.8 percentage points. Some questions were asked of a half-sample, which has a margin of error of plus-minus 2.5 percentage points.
