Poverty Survey

NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy School Poll

Poverty in America

As shown, some questions were asked only of subsets of respondents (e.g., people who said they knew about the new welfare law). The tables identify whether the results reflect percentages of the overall population or percentages of a subset. In some cases results for particular income-level subgroups are not shown because there were too few respondents on which to report. Some demographic questions are not shown, but all questions are presented in the order in which they were asked. An asterisk (*) indicates a response of less than 1%.

VII. Personal Experience with Economic Problems

44.When you think of your situation today, do you think of yourself as poor or not?
(Results for respondents who rate their own financial situation today as only fair or poor)
[Total =1105, <100% =253, 100-200%=465, 200%+ =387]

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	35	64	1
<100%	77	21	2
100-200%	44	54	2
200%+	20	80	1

4/44 Summary Table

		FINANCIAL SITUATION IS FAIR/POOR
	Financial situation is excellent/good	NET	Think of yourself as poor	Do not think of yourself as poor	Don’t know
Total	50	49	17	32	*
<100%	16	84	65	18	--
100-200%	24	75	33	41	*
200%+	60	39	8	31	*

45. Thinking about your own family - both your immediate family living here and your other close relatives like aunts, uncles, cousins and so on - as far as you know, is anyone in your family poor?
(Results for total respondents)

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	36	63	1
<100%	54	46	*
100-200%	41	59	1
200%+	32	67	1

46. Do you have any close friends who are poor?
(Results for total respondents)

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	48	50	1
<100%	71	28	1
100-200%	59	39	2
200%+	43	56	1

47. In the past year, have you or someone in your immediate family had a SERIOUS problem with any of the following?
(Results for total respondents)

Being unable to find child care or being forced to take your child out of childcare because you can’t pay.

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	15	82	2
<100%	21	77	3
100-200%	21	76	3
200%+	13	85	2

Falling behind in your rent or mortgage payments.

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	28	71	1
<100%	42	56	3
100-200%	31	69	*
200%+	26	73	1

Falling behind in your gas, electric, or phone bills.

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	33	65	1
<100%	53	47	*
100-200%	41	56	2
200%+	29	70	1

Being unable to pay for adequate transportation to get to work or school.

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	18	81	1
<100%	40	57	3
100-200%	22	77	1
200%+	14	85	1

Being unable to get medical care because of the cost.

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	32	67	1
<100%	51	48	1
100-200%	40	59	1
200%+	27	72	1

Having trouble paying a credit card balance.

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	40	58	2
<100%	38	59	3
100-200%	39	59	1
200%+	40	57	2

Having too little money to buy enough food.

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	23	76	1
<100%	52	47	2
100-200%	35	65	*
200%+	17	82	*

Getting divorced or separated, in part because of financial problems.

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	13	85	2
<100%	18	81	1
100-200%	14	84	3
200%+	13	85	2

Being a victim of a crime.

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	17	83	1
<100%	22	76	2
100-200%	16	84	1
200%+	16	84	*

Having a problem with alcohol or drug abuse.

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	20	79	1
<100%	22	78	*
100-200%	17	82	*
200%+	21	79	1

48. Have you or has anyone in your immediate family ever received welfare or public assistance benefits?
(Results for total respondents)

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	38	61	1
<100%	64	35	1
100-200%	47	51	2
200%+	33	66	1

49. Are you or is anyone in your immediate family receiving such benefits now?
(Results for respondents who say they have, or someone in their immediate family has, received welfare or public assistance benefits)
[Total = 864, <100% = 200, 100-200% = 310, 200%+ = 354]

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	33	65	2
<100%	59	40	1
100-200%	35	60	5
200%+	26	72	2

50. Some people tell us that they worry about becoming poor. What do you think? Does the possibility of becoming poor worry you a great deal, worry you a little, or doesn't it worry you at all?
(Results for total respondents)

	Worries you a great deal	Worries you a little	Doesn’t worry you at all	Don’t know
Total	18	35	46	1
<100%	35	33	31	1
100-200%	27	34	37	2
200%+	15	35	50	*

51. How would you rate...?
(Results for total respondents)

The housing you currently live in

	EXCELLENT/GOOD			ONLY FAIR/POOR
	NET	Excellent	Good	NET	Only fair	Poor	Don’t know
Total	82	33	49	18	15	3	*
<100%	63	18	45	37	29	8	*
100-200%	72	21	51	28	25	3	*
200%+	87	38	49	13	11	2	*

Your health-care coverage

	EXCELLENT/GOOD			ONLY FAIR/POOR
	NET	Excellent	Good	NET	Only fair	Poor	Don’t know
Total	69	28	41	28	19	9	2
<100%	52	12	41	45	24	21	3
100-200%	53	17	36	44	30	14	3
200%+	75	32	43	23	16	7	2

The safety of your neighborhood

	EXCELLENT/GOOD			ONLY FAIR/POOR
	NET	Excellent	Good	NET	Only fair	Poor	Don’t know
Total	82	39	43	18	14	4	*
<100%	55	16	39	44	33	11	1
100-200%	75	27	48	25	20	5	*
200%+	87	44	43	13	11	2	*

52. I'd like to ask you some questions about where you live. Is there a bank convenient for you? How about a supermarket?
(Results for total respondents)

Bank

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	93	7	*
<100%	89	11	--
100-200%	91	9	--
200%+	93	6	*

Supermarket

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	92	8	*
<100%	86	13	*
100-200%	90	10	--
200%+	93	7	*

53. What is your employment status? Are you...?
(Results for total respondents)

	Total	<100%	100-200%	200%+
Employed (NET)	64	37	49	70
Employed full time	55	22	39	62
Employed part time	9	15	10	8
Retired	20	25	27	17
Homemaker	6	13	8	5
Student	4	6	5	4
Unemployed and looking for work	3	6	5	2
Unemployed and not looking for work	2	11	4	1
Don’t know	1	2	3	1

54. What was your employment status five years ago? Were you...?
(Results for total respondents)

	Total	<100%	100-200%	200%+
Employed (NET)	66	52	57	70
Employed full time	56	39	46	61
Employed part time	10	13	12	9
Retired	13	15	18	12
Homemaker	5	8	9	4
Student	11	9	9	11
Unemployed and looking for work	2	5	3	1
Unemployed and not looking for work	2	9	3	1
Don’t know	1	2	1	1

55. If you are employed, on the whole, how satisfied are you with the work you do? Would you say you are very satisfied, moderately satisfied, a little dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied?
(Results for total who are employed full or part time)
[Total =1213, <100% =123, 100-200%=336, 200%+ =754]

	Total	<100%	100-200%	200%+
Satisfied (NET)	90	74	85	92
Very satisfied	51	29	36	55
Moderately satisfied	39	45	49	37
Dissatisfied (NET)	10	26	14	8
A little dissatisfied	7	14	12	6
Very dissatisfied	3	11	3	2
Don’t know	*	--	*	--

54/55 Summary

	Total	<100%	100-200%	200%+
Employed (NET)	64	37	49	70
Satisfied (NET)	57	27	41	64
Very satisfied	32	11	18	38
Moderately satisfied	25	17	24	26
Dissatisfied (NET)	6	9	7	6
A little dissatisfied	5	5	6	4
Very dissatisfied	2	4	1	1
Not employed	35	61	49	29
Don’t know	1	2	3	1

56. How long is your commute to work or school? A half hour or less, a half hour to an hour, one to two hours, or more than two hours?

	EMPLOYED/STUDENT
	NET	A half hour or less	A half hour to an hour	One to two hours	More than two hours	Not employed/student	Don’t know
Total	68	50	12	3	1	31	1
<100%	43	29	10	2	1	55	2
100-200%	54	40	10	1	1	44	3
200%+	74	55	13	3	1	25	1

57. I am going to read you a list of things that some people do and others don't. In the past twelve months have you...?
(Results for total respondents)

Donated money to an organization that helps the poor

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	68	32	1
<100%	43	57	-
100-200%	56	44	*
200%+	74	26	1

Contributed your time to an organization that helps the poor

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	42	58	1
<100%	39	60	1
100-200%	32	68	*
200%+	44	55	1

Directly tried to help a poor individual or family

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	67	32	*
<100%	66	33	*
100-200%	69	30	*
200%+	67	33	*

Contacted a public official about problems faced by poor people

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Total	10	89	*
<100%	13	87	*
100-200%	9	91	*
200%+	11	89	*

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Methodology
The results of this project are based on a nationwide telephone survey conducted in English and Spanish between January 4 and February 27, 2001, among a random representative sample of 1,952 respondents 18 years of age and older. There was an oversample of 546 respondents who were identified as having an income of less than 200% of the federal poverty level. Overall the sample included 294 respondents having an income of less than 100% of the federal poverty level, 613 having an income of between 100% and 200% of the federal poverty level, and 1,045 with an income above 200% of the federal poverty level. The results for all groups are weighted to reflect the actual distribution in the nation. The field work was conducted by ICR/International Communications Research. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points for total respondents, plus or minus 7.5 percentage points for those with an income of less than 100% of the federal poverty level, plus or minus 5.4 percentage points for those with an income of between 100% and 200% of the federal poverty level, and plus or minus 2.6 percentage points for those with an income above 200% of the federal poverty level. For results based on subsets of respondents the margin of error is higher.

When interpreting the data, keep in mind that because this was a telephone survey, it under-represents groups less likely to have telephones, such as people with very low incomes.