Voters Say Trump’s Tax History Is Nothing Unusual in Business
The leak of Donald Trump’s 1995 income tax returns showing substantial financial losses that appear to have allowed him to avoid paying taxes for 18 years sent the media into a frenzy last week. But most voters say such behavior is par for the course in the business world and that a candidate’s policy positions are more important than how much he or she has paid in taxes.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 83% of Likely U.S. Voters believe that when most businessmen pay their taxes, they try to pay as little as possible. Only 12% feel they are more concerned with paying their fair share. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on October 4-5, 2016 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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