Have, Have-not, Or Having None Of It

As if there weren’t enough dividing

lines among Americans, they’re even divided on the question of whether they’re divided. A Gallup poll asked adults whether they think American society is divided into two groups—the haves and the have-nots. Answers varied sharply by ethnicity, with 42 percent of non-Hispanic whites, 67 percent of blacks and 31 percent of Hispanics agreeing that there is such a clear division. As the chart below indicates, the ethnicity gap played itself out differently when Gallup prodded respondents to put themselves in one class or the other.