Fifty-four percent (54%) of voters believe that more freedom leads to more equality. A Scott Rasmussen national survey found that 25% disagree and 20% are not sure.
The survey also found that 41% of voters do not see a conflict between freedom and equality. Thirty-five percent (35%) believe that freedom is more important, 19% say equality matter more, and 6% are not sure.
Thirty-eight percent (38%) of both Republicans and Democrats do not see a conflict between the two ideals. Republicans, by a 49% to 10% margin, believe freedom is more important. Democrats, however, are evenly divided. Twenty-nine percent (29%) say freedom is more important while 27% say equality is the top priority.
Among Independent voters, 44% don’t see a conflict; 28% say freedom is more important and 20% say equality matters more.
Note: Neither Scott Rasmussen, ScottRasmussen.com, nor RMG Research, Inc. have any affiliation with Rasmussen Reports. While Scott Rasmussen founded that firm, he left nearly a decade ago and has had no involvement since that time.
Question 1:
Generally speaking, is there a conflict between freedom and equality?
59% Yes
23% No
18% Not sure
Question 2:
[If “Yes” to question 1] Which is more important: freedom or equality?
41% No conflict
35% Freedom
19% Equality
6% Not sure
Question 3:
Does more individual freedom lead to more equality or to more inequality?
23% Much more equality
31% Somewhat more equality
18% Somewhat more inequality
7% Much more inequality
20% Not sure
Methodology
The survey of 1,200 Registered Voters was conducted online by Scott Rasmussen on February 8-9, 2022. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage, and political party to reasonably reflect the nation’s population of Registered Voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population.
The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 2.8 percentage points.