Helping the Squeezed Middle?

Helping the Squeezed Middle?
Today the Guardian argues for making the median level of income a focus for the Labour Party.
Yes the squeezed middle can do with help. Raising the median level of earnings may well be an attractive slogan in an election.
But the poor need help more than the squeezed middle. And why are the British public “pragmatic” about helping the poor? Does this mean that they are less willing to help the poor than the squeezed middle? Depending on how one measures the poor, there are probably more of them than the squeezed middle. So helping the poor more would have a bigger effect than helping the squeezed middle. It might even generate more votes in an election!
This article seems to question the very existence of altruism in Britain today. Evidence from the British Social Attitudes surveys questions this assertion. Put simply, there is probably more national concern for the poor than for those in the middle.
When the survey asked if it was the responsibility of the government to reduce the difference between those on high incomes and those on low, the answers in 2009 were:
Agreed strongly 17%
Agreed 40%
When asked if the gap between high and low incomes was too high, the answers in 2009 were:
Too High 78%.
This figure has been rising steadily since 1983, when it was 72%.
None of this is evidence for a selfish majority.
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