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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%.

Return to the Summary or skip to a section:

I. General Background | II. Why Are People Poor? | III. Perceptions of Poor People | IV. The Government's Role | V. Perceptions of Welfare and Welfare Recipients | VI. Perceptions of the New Welfare Law | VII. Personal Experience with Economic Problems | VIII. Demographics


VIII.  Demographics

58. In general, would you say your health is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor?
(Results for total respondents)

 

EXCELLENT/
VERY GOOD/GOOD

FAIR/POOR

 
 

NET

Excellent

Very good

Good

NET

Fair

Poor

Don’t know

Total

80

27

22

31

20

15

5

*

<100%

53

14

10

30

47

31

16

--

100-200%

67

18

15

34

33

22

10

*

200%+

86

31

25

30

14

11

3

*

59. Do you expect to be receiving cash assistance one year from now?
(Results for respondents who are receiving cash assistance from welfare or public assistance)
[Total =76. <100%, 100-200%, 200%+ =too few respondents to report on]

 

Yes

No

Don’t know

Total

37

51

12

60. How much pressure do you feel you are getting from the government to find a job?
(Results for respondents who are receiving cash assistance from welfare or public assistance)
[Total =76. <100%, 100-200%, 200%+ =too few respondents to report on]

 

A lot of pressure

Not too much pressure

No pressure at all

Don’t know

Total

14

17

68

2

61. If you could change one thing about the current welfare system, what would it be?
(Results for respondents who are receiving cash assistance from welfare or public assistance)
[Total =76. <100%, 100-200%, 200%+ =too few respondents to report on]

 

Total

Help move people into education/help more people go to school

11

Help the homeless more

1

Provide day care/help out with day care

6

Provide job training

6

Help Americans before helping other countries

*

Provide for the people who really need it

6

Help the people who are really trying to make something of themselves by providing them with whatever is holding them back

3

People who aren’t willing to work should not receive welfare

9

Put more investigators on each case since more people need help

2

Women should be required to be on birth control

2

They shouldn’t harass people to get a job if they’re unable to work

3

Recipients that are blind should receive their information/letters on tape

2

Provide more money/benefits for those people who really need help

12

Other

14

Nothing

10

Don’t know

19

62. Do you feel the government will help you if you fall on bad times, or do you think you'll have only yourself to rely on?
(Results for total respondents)

 

Government will help

Have to rely on self

Don’t know

Total

29

65

6

<100%

36

59

4

100-200%

30

62

7

200%+

28

67

6

63. If you were asked to use one of these five names for the economic class you belong to, which would you say you belong in? Would you belong in …?
(Results for total respondents)

 

Upper class

Upper middle class

Middle class

Working class

Lower class

Don’t know

Total

2

12

40

36

9

1

<100%

*

2

26

32

40

*

100-200%

1

2

30

51

14

2

200%+

2

16

45

33

4

1

64. Of all the people who are on welfare in this country, are more of them black or are more of them white?
(Results for total respondents)

 

More are black

More are white

Don’t know

Total

36

28

36

<100%

37

26

37

100-200%

35

22

43

200%+

36

30

44

65. Some people are registered to vote and others are not. Are you currently registered to vote at your present address?
(Results for total respondents)

 

Yes

No

Don’t Know

Total

78

21

*

<100%

67

33

--

100-200%

68

32

*

200%+

82

18

*

66. In politics today, do you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or something else?
(Results for total respondents)

 

Republican

Democrat

Independent

Something else

Don’t Know

Total

28

33

25

11

3

<100%

23

41

22

8

5

100-200%

24

36

26

11

3

200%+

30

32

25

11

3

67. Do you consider yourself closer to the Republican Party or the Democratic Party?
(Results from respondents who are Independent)
[Total =450, <100% =66, 100-200%=136, 200%+ =248]

 

Republican Party

Democratic Party

Neither

Don’t Know

Total

34

41

19

6

<100%

33

41

19

6

100-200%

36

40

17

7

200%+

34

41

19

6

Leaned Party Table

 

Republican

Democrat

Independent

Something else

Don’t Know

Total

36

43

6

11

3

<100%

31

50

6

8

5

100-200%

33

46

7

11

3

200%+

38

42

6

11

3

68. Would you say your views in most political matters are liberal, moderate, conservative, something else, or haven't you given this much thought?
(Results for total respondents)

 

Liberal

Moderate

Conservative

Something else

Haven’t given this much thought

Don’t Know

Total

18

27

22

2

29

2

<100%

18

19

12

3

44

4

100-200%

15

20

19

3

42

1

200%+

19

30

24

2

24

1

69. What is the last grade or class that you completed in school?
(Results for total respondents)

 

Total

<100%

100-200%

200%+

High school graduate or less (NET)

49

74

70

41

Less than high school graduate (SUBNET)

17

41

33

10

    None, or grade 1-8

5

15

10

3

    High school incomplete

12

26

23

8

High school graduate + (SUBNET)

32

33

37

31

    High school graduate

28

32

33

27

    Business, technical/vocational school

4

1

4

5

Some college or more (NET)

51

26

29

58

Some college, no 4 year degree

27

18

21

30

College graduate + (SUBNET)

23

8

8

29

    College graduate

16

6

6

19

    Post-graduate training

8

2

2

10

Don’t Know

*

--

*

*

70. Are you, yourself, of Hispanic or Latino background, such as Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or other Latin American background?
(Results for total respondents)

 

Yes

No

Don’t Know

Total

12

87

*

<100%

25

75

--

100-200%

23

77

*

200%+

8

91

*

71. Do you consider yourself to be white, black or African-American, Asian-American, or some other race?
(Results for total respondents)


 

White

Black/African-American

Asian-American

Some other race

Don’t Know

Total

78

12

2

7

1

<100%

62

23

1

13

2

100-200%

69

15

2

12

2

200%+

82

9

2

6

*

RACE SUMMARY TABLE

NON-HISPANIC

   

HISPANIC

 
 

White

Black/African-American

Asian-American

Some other race

NET

White

Black

Unspecified

Don’t Know

Total

73

10

2

2

12

5

1

6

1

<100%

51

18

1

3

25

10

4

11

2

100-200%

60

12

2

3

23

8

4

11

1

200%+

78

9

2

2

8

4

1

4

*


72. Gender:
(Total respondents)

 

Male

Female

Total

48

52

<100%

38

62

100-200%

43

57

200%+

50

50

73. Metro Status
(Results for total respondents)

 

Urban

Suburban

Rural

Total

37

40

23

<100%

44

26

30

100-200%

38

34

29

200%+

36

44

21



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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.

 





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