Tolerance in Canada by Income Bracket.

A new study in Canadia, reported by Muchmor Magazine shows that tolerance varies with income bracket:

In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,003 Canadian adults, most respondents in the higher-income bracket (54%) find pornography morally acceptable, while fewer in the middle-income (41%) and lower-income income brackets (37%) agree.

The same is true when Canadians assess whether the death penalty is morally acceptable. Sixty-three per cent of respondents in the higher-income bracket have no moral qualms about capital punishment, but this proportion is lower amongst middle-income respondents (52%), and drops even further amongst lower-income Canadians (46%).

For the purpose of this analysis, Canadians were divided into three categories according to their yearly household income: $50,000 or less (lower-income), between $50,000 and $99,000 (middle-income), and $100,000 or more (higher-income).

Respondents in the higher- income bracket are more likely than other Canadians to believe that certain issues are morally acceptable. For instance, while almost eight-in-ten (78%) people in this group regard embryonic stem-cell research as morally acceptable, this is true for 73 per cent of those in the middle-income bracket, and 62 per cent of those in the lower-income group.

Lifestyle choices such as wearing animal fur (65%) or gambling (76%) are morally acceptable for higher-income Canadians; but fewer respondents in the middle-income bracket also accept them (58% and 68%, respectively). Less than half of those in the lower-income bracket, however, feel the same way about wearing animal fur (47%) or gambling (49%).

But only regarding some issues:

In some cases, it is middle-income Canadians who appear readier than others to see issues as morally acceptable.

About three quarters of respondents in the middle-income bracket (74%) regard sexual relations between two people of the same sex as acceptable, compared to 67 per cent of higher-income Canadians, and 58 per cent of those in the lower-income bracket.

In cases when a married man or woman has an affair, a fifth of middle-income Canadians (21%) condone it, but less than 15 per cent of those in other brackets concur.

Middle-income Canadians (70%) are also slightly more inclined than those in the higher-income bracket (66%) to find doctor-assisted suicide morally acceptable. Fewer lower-income respondents (60%) agree.