Poll: Most Democratic voters say billionaires are out of touch with average American

Most Democratic voters say that billionaire politicians are out of touch with the average American, according to the latest Hill-HarrisX poll released on Wednesday.

Sixty-nine percent of Democratic voters in the nationwide survey said that billionaires don’t understand the problems facing the majority of Americans.

Another 31 percent of Democrats said they thought billionaire candidates are better equipped to focus on the needs facing the majority of voters across the country.

The survey comes as billionaire presidential candidates Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg look to make in-roads with Democratic voters.

Both Bloomberg and Steyer have made climate change central to their campaigns in an effort to stand out in the crowded Democratic field.

Polls have consistently found climate change to be a top-tier issue for Democratic primary voters.

Steyer has said that he would declare climate change a national emergency if elected president, while Bloomberg has set a series of deadlines that he would meet to help curb emissions.

A CBS survey released last September showed climate change to be the second-most important issue among Democratic voters behind health care, and according to the Pew Research Center, the percentage of Democrats who called climate change a major threat to the well-being of the United States increased from 40 percent in 2013 to 57 percent in 2019. 

Even though Bloomberg and Steyer have sought to address this growing concern, both are still garnering single-digit support in most national polling.

According to the RealClearPolitics average of national polls, Bloomberg has 7.8 percent support, and Steyer comes in at 1.8 percent.

However, other polls have shown Bloomberg registering in the double-digits. A Morning Consult poll released on Tuesday found that 12 percent of Democratic primary voters back the former New York City mayor.

The Hill-HarrisX surveyed 355 Democratic voters between Jan. 20 and 22. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points.

—Tess Bonn