"Income Gap" / "Middle Class" Survey - Why Opinions Don't Reflect Reality?

Question

About 7 in 10 Americans is "concerned about the income gap" and the wealth gap, as well as the "declining size fo the middle class" but they also thought that government's role should not be to tear down the wealthy or give handouts but rather ensure that there is upward mobility.

Except that the data show that there is upward mobility - more so than in past generations. Indeed the "gap" is not between one group with declining income and one with rising income, just between two groups whose real incomes are rising at different rates - - - and more importantly, for the most part it is between older, more experienced workers and younger, less experienced workers (most of who will one day be in the other, higher income category), the gap growing as we move to a knowledge-based economy. The "middle class" is in fact moving up.

People's concern seems a concern for others - as in, I'm OK, everyone I know is OK, but the media have convinced me that untold millions aren't.

The data, not just for the last 5 but the last 25 years, is clear on this by the way.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1229294/posts
http://www.nytimes.com/specials/downsize/21cox.html
http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1988/05/art1full.pdf
http://www.frbsf.org/econrsrch/wklyltr/el97-07.html#winners
http://www.dallasfed.org/fed/annual/1999p/ar95.html
http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/25/pf/record_millionaires/index.htm?cnn=yes
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/28/news/economy/millionaire_survey/index.htm?cnn=yes
http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/28/news/economy/millionaires/?cnn=yes
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Labor/bg1773.cfm

Answer 1

Census data confirms this by the way. Real Income, that means after inflation has been factored in, for ALL groups (including poor and middle class) has steadily been increasing for the last 10, 20, 30+ years. Oh sure, there are dips, but over any 10 year period, all groups are getting wealthier.