Majorities surveyed in advanced democracies routinely express concern about inequality and view the government as responsible for reducing income differences between rich and poor. These views are often interpreted as popular support for redistribution. We question this interpretation and contend that most people have little grasp of what reducing inequality actually entails. Rather, attitudes on actual redistributive policies—progressive taxation and transfers to the poor—mirror general sentiments about social inequality, but are also weighted more heavily towards personal economic circumstances. Using original survey and experimental data from the U.S., we offer support for these conjectures. We show that only a distinct minority links the general cause of inequality reduction to specific redistributive measures. And when confronted with concrete measures to reduce income disparities: (1) support for government action increases; and (2) attitudes more closely mirror people’s material self-interest. We conclude with a discussion of the methodological and theoretical implications of these findings for the study of inequality and redistribution.