ISSUE GUIDES: Poverty and Welfare
The Red Flags section offers guidance on areas of public opinion research where findings may be misleading, unstable, or easily misinterpreted. Public Agenda uses several indicators to judge when survey results should be reported and used cautiously.
Red Flag Statements
| The "Deserving Poor" vs. "Welfare Recipients" | Neither Liberal or Conservative Approaches to Welfare | The Homeless: As Long as They Don't Bother Anybody... |
Opinion researchers have long observed that survey questions asking about "the poor" elicit far more positive attitudes than those asking about "welfare." For example, while majorities want the problems of the poor to be a priority for Congress, people are also divided on whether “welfare recipients” really need the help. In survey results, the poor are characterized as people who work hard, but just can’t earn enough money to support their families, and Americans show broad support for a number of proposals to help them make ends meet. By contrast, Public Agenda’s research has suggested that for most Americans, the term “welfare” seems to evoke a vision of a failed and fundamentally flawed government system reviled both by those on welfare and the general public. Perhaps surprisingly, just half of Americans say they know about the 1996 welfare reform, but among those who do, the vast majority say it works well because of the work requirement.
- Americans are divided on whether welfare recipients really need the help
- Half of Americans know the 1996 changes to the welfare laws
- Large majorities—including those in welfare families—believed the old system needed change
- Seven in 10 Americans say poverty and homelessness should be an important legislative priority, but comparatively few say...
- Six in 10 Americans say most poor people work, but don't earn enough money
- The vast majority of those who know about welfare reform say it works well because of the work requirement
Tags: The public’s thinking on welfare does not fit easily into either liberal or conservative political frameworks. People support elements of the conservative approach, like time limits and work requirements, along with elements of the liberal approach, like more job training and child care for welfare mothers. Before the 1996 changes to the welfare laws, people distrusted both liberal and conservative predictions about the consequences of reform.
- Americans say they support a number of proposals to help poor people directly, such as expanding day care and increasing...
- Parents say it is important for families on welfare to have parents work, even if it means using child care
- People distrusted both liberal and conservative predictions about the consequences of reform
- The majority of Americans say low-income families should get child care assistance and parents say that poor children need...
The public is sympathetic toward the homeless (and the poor in general), but there's a libertarian streak in public attitudes. If someone refuses shelter and decides to sleep on the street, that's up to them, the public seems to say. But as with other questions involving rights and responsibilities, the public appears to draw a line: the rights of one person end where the rights of another begin. In a recent Public Agenda survey, only one in 10 said a homeless man who isn't bothering anyone should be forced off the street. Three-quarters say he should be left alone. But if a homeless man seems disturbed and verbally threatens people - even if he never acts on the threats - more than half say he should be removed. Half also say the homeless should be moved out of a public park if they're driving families away and 71 percent say homeless people should be moved if they're driving away customers from a shopping area. Even in the last two scenarios, however, there's a substantial minority who thinks the situation is "too tough to call."
- Few Americans say homeless people should be allowed to eat and sleep in parks and most Americans want the police to keep them...
- Nearly three-quarters of Americans say the police should let homeless people live their lives the way they choose provided they
- Slightly more than half of Americans agree a homeless person should be taken off the streets if he seems disturbed
Public Agenda uses several indicators to judge when survey results should be reported and used cautiously:
- Results change when survey questions are reworded slightly.
- Results change when implications or trade-offs of a policy are pointed out.
- Results may be misleading if reported in isolation or out of context.
- Other research suggests that people have incomplete or inaccurate knowledge in this area.
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