Poll: 58 percent of Americans believe the rich deserve their wealth

GlobeScan, a market-research firm, released a 23-country study last week showing that 58 percent of U.S. citizens “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” that the rich deserve their wealth — a slight increase from a similar survey in 2008. …

The GlobeScan survey does not necessarily contradict previous polls that show Americans think income inequality is a real problem. Earlier this year, the president of the Pew Research Center wrote a New York Times op-ed that explained, “People [in the U.S.] don’t necessarily want to take money from the wealthy; they just want a better chance to get rich themselves.”