KALAMAZOO — Two-thirds of voters (67 percent) say “making the tax system more fair” was a “very” or “fairly important consideration in making [their] voting decisions this year,” according to a new poll relased by Hart Research Associates on behalf of Americans for Tax Fairness.

Of this group, 58 percent supported President Obama while only 40 percent supported Gov. Romney.

Democrats benefitted by an even larger margin in Senate races: 62 percent of these voters supported the Democratic candidate compared to just 36 percent who supported the Republican.

State partners of the Americans for Tax Fairness campaign, including Michigan Citizen Action, launched an effort last week to educate the public and to urge the Republican members of Michigan’s Congressional delegation to consider the question “Who Pays: the richest 2 percent or the rest of us?” in the current federal debate about deficit reduction and the expiring Bush tax cuts.

“This poll and the election results demonstrate that voters are paying attention to this issue and that average people care about making sure that the wealthy pay their fair share to solve the country’s problems and get us back on the right economic track,” said Linda Teeter, executive director of Michigan Citizen Action, a member group of the Americans for Tax Fairness, a diverse campaign of more than 225 national, state, and local organizations united in support of a tax system that works for all Americans.

“It’s our job over the coming weeks as the debate heats up in Washington to remind Congress that we will no longer accept an unfair tax system that is rigged in favor of the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the rest of us. Who pays is the central question in this debate.”

According to the poll, voters, concerned about the economy, want to reduce the budget deficit by increasing revenue through progressive tax measures, not by cutting Medicare and Medicaid.

Hart conducted the telephone survey of 1,009 voters nationwide on Nov. 7–9 to assess the role of the tax issue in voters’ electoral decision-making, attitudes on the issue of ending the Bush tax cuts for upper-income taxpayers, and support for various deficit reduction proposals.