What do American people think about free markets?
Economic axis · 🇺🇸 the United States · measured continuously, published only above 100 responses.
32% of American respondents take the position “Rules on business are needed to keep people safe.”, against 46% for “Rules on business usually do more harm than good.”, with 22% choosing neither. n = 115, margin of error ±9.7, weighted to the United States's adult population.
Where the United States sits on economic
What is measured about the United States on this axis. These are facts about the country, not what its people think about them — that is the part of this page waiting on a sample.
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Income per person
World Bank / ICP · 2025
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$76,931 |
among the highest in the world
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Income inequality (Gini)
World Bank PovcalNet/PIP · 2024
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41.8 0–100 |
higher than most countries
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Tax revenue
IMF Government Finance Statistics · 2024
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10.8% |
lower than most countries
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Trade openness
World Bank national accounts · 2024
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25.0% |
among the lowest in the world
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Ranked against every country with a published figure for the same series. Sources: World Bank World Development Indicators, which republish UN, ILO, UNESCO, WHO, SIPRI, IISS and UNODC data.
The questions that bear on free markets
Asked as a forced choice between two written positions, in randomised order, with the sides flipped for half of respondents.
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A · Rules on business usually do more harm than good.
B · Rules on business are needed to keep people safe.
World, unweighted: 22% A ·
20% neither ·
58% B · n = 4736
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32% B 🇺🇸 n=115 |
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A · Free trade and business have done more to end poverty than state help has.
B · State help has done more to end poverty than free trade and business have.
World, unweighted: 22% A ·
20% neither ·
58% B · n = 4766
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33% B 🇺🇸 n=111 |
A national figure appears only once that nation clears 100 responses on the question. The world column is a raw count of every answer received and is not post-stratified — it is shown because withholding it would say less, not more.
Asked another way
The same question, as people put it.
- The united states public opinion on free markets
- Free markets poll the united states
- What do american people think about free markets
- What percentage of american people support free markets
Each has one answer on this page, and it is the same answer.