按：这好像是我在华尔街日报上看到的第一篇未署名文章。

The Rich Support McCain, the Super-Rich Support Obama
2008年10月24日

In Richistan, I wrote about a new political divide emerging among the wealthy. While most Lower Richistani’s ($1 million to $10 million in net worth) were voting Republican, most Middle-and Upper Richistanis (those worth $10 million plus and $100 million plus) were voting Democrat.

Lower Richistanis tended to vote almost exclusively ba<x>sed on taxes. But Upper Richistanis placed a higher priority on longer-term societal issues like health care, the environment and education, which are traditional Democrat issues. Some say Upper Richistanis can afford to minimize taxes, since they have plenty of money even after the government takes its share. Others say the ultra-rich have better tax attorneys so they don’t care as much about tax rates.

Yet a new survey shows that the Richistan split is not only alive and well, but it may even be growing.

According to a new survey by Prince & Associates, voters worth $1 million to $10 million are favoring Sen. John McCain, while voters worth $30 million or more are favoring Sen. Barack Obama. The survey of 493 families showed:

More than three quarters of those worth $1 million to $10 million plan to vote for Sen. McCain. Only 15% plan to vote for Sen. Obama (the rest are undecided). Of those worth more than $30 million, two-thirds support Sen. Obama, while one third support Sen. McCain.

The reason? Taxes.

Among Lower Richistani’s, 88% cited tax policies as being ‘important’ in making their decision. Only 11% cited the environment, 22% cited health care and 45% cited social issues.

Among the Upper Richistani’s supporting Sen. Obama, tax policies ranked last, with only 16% citing them as important. ‘Social issues’ ranked first, with ‘policies dealing with wars’ ranking second (67%) and Supreme Court nominations and health-care issues ranking next.

Of course, in today’s populist politics, the only thing worse than being the candidate of the wealthy is being the candidate of the superwealthy. You can bet this is one poll that neither candidate will repeat on the campaign trail.

But the survey offers an important insight into the effect of wealth on personal politics. Perhaps the old saying should be changed to: If you’re ultrawealthy and conservative you have no heart; if you’re wealthy and liberal, you have no brain.

富人支持麦凯恩 富豪拥护奥巴马
2008年10月24日

我曾经撰文谈到美国富人内部出现的一种新的政治立场分化：大多数百万富翁（净资产在100万-1,000万美元之间）都支持共和党，而多数千万富翁和亿万富翁（净资产分别超过1,000万美元和1亿美元）都是民主党的拥趸。

百万富翁几乎完全是因为税项问题决定投谁的票。但亿万富翁更关注医疗、环境、教育等长期社会问题，这些问题是民主党的传统长项。有人说，亿万富翁不在乎税项问题，因为即便政府征税后，他们也有大笔财富。也有人认为，超级富豪们有更好的税务律师，所以不怎么关注所得税率。

但一项新的调查显示，美国富人间的这道鸿沟不仅切实存在，而且可能正在不断拉大。

根据Prince & Associates的一项新调查，身家资产在100万-1,000万美元之间的选民普遍青睐麦凯恩(John McCain)，而资产超过3,000万美元的选民则支持奥巴马(Barack Obama)。该机构调查了493个美国家庭。

调查结果显示，在百万富翁选民中，超过四分之三的人都计划把选票投给麦凯恩，只有15%的人打算支持奥巴马，其余则未确定立场。而在资产超过3,000万美元的选民中，三分之二都力挺奥巴马，其余三分之一的人则拥护麦凯恩。

原因很简单──税项问题。

在百万富翁中，有88%的人提到税务问题是决定他们选票的重要因素，只有11%的人提到环境问题，22%的人提到医疗问题，45%的人提到社会问题。

而在支持奥巴马的亿万富翁选民中，税务政策排在他们关注问题的最后一位，只有16%的人看重这个问题；“社会问题”列在第一位，其次是“战争政策”（有67%人看重），再次是最高法院提名以及医疗问题。

当然，在如今邀买人心的美国政界，唯一比代表富人的候选人更糟糕的就是代表超级富豪的候选人。你可以打赌这项调查肯定是两位候选人在竞选之路上都避之惟恐不及的。

不过这项调查为我们深入剖析了财富对个人政治立场的影响。或许那句老话也应该与时俱进了：如果你是保守派超级富豪，你就是没心肝；如果你是自由派富裕阶层，那你就是没脑子。