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