We asked people for their views about seven different characters, each of which have accumulated £5 million in a different way.
The NEW-MONEY HEIR
The OLD-MONEY HEIR
The LANDLORD
The ENTRE-PRENEUR
The INVESTOR
The FINANCE WHIZZ
The SPORTS STAR
For each character, we asked five questions, each with two possible answers (below).
We asked respondents to pick the answer they most agreed with in each case (or neither, if they were unsure). In the charts below, green bars show the percentage of respondents who agreed with the first answer, and red bars the second (grey bars mean unsure). Breakdowns are available for 2019 Conservative and Labour voters (and, in the ‘all breakdowns’ sections, for a range of other demographic variables). To reduce respondent fatigue, each respondent only answered questions about three of the seven characters, chosen at random.
Accumulating wealth in this way…
The new-money heir
…has inherited £5m from their parents, who had built up a successful business from scratch
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All breakdowns
The old-money heir
…has inherited £5m from their father, whose family has been wealthy for many generations
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All breakdowns
The landlord
…has accumulated £5m by building a large portfolio of rental properties over their lifetime
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All breakdowns
The entrepreneur
…has accumulated £5m by building a business from scratch and then selling it
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All breakdowns
The investor
…has accumulated £5m by extracting dividends from a hedge fund that they started up
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All breakdowns
The finance whizz
…has accumulated £5m by being paid large bonuses every year as a successful city trader
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All breakdowns
The sports star
…has accumulated £5m by being paid a large salary for 15 years as a footballer
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All breakdowns
Looking across all five questions, it’s clear that most people think that opportunities to make lots of money aren't evenly spread, and that many have achieved their wealth more through luck than by hard work.
This view holds for all characters with the exception of entrepreneurs, and to some extent landlords, both of whom are viewed more favourably by the public. Views about fairness and positive impact on society are split, while large numbers are unsure about taxation (although the issue of taxing wealth is examined in more detail in a separate question).
Comparing ‘net approval ratings’ for the seven characters, the entrepreneur comes out clearly ahead, scoring high in terms of having earned their wealth fairly (and more through hard work than luck) and their positive impact on society, although many people do not think that everyone has an equal chance to become one. The second most positively viewed character is the landlord, followed by the new-money heir and then the investor. Bringing up the rear are the sports star, the finance whizz and the old-money heir.
