Despite Economic Downturn, Fewer Americans See Poverty as a Top Issue

While I'm on the topic of polls on the economy, I noticed something interesting in the Pew poll on the economy that was released yesterday. The poll finds big increases in the share of Republican and Independents who view "strengthening the economy" as a top priority. Three out of four Americans now see the economy as a top priority and the there's no difference between R's, D's and Independents (there used to be a 12-point R-D gap). At the same time, however, the share of Americans who view "dealing with the problems of the poor and needy" as a top priority has declined, going from a peak of 59 percent in 2005 to 51 percent this year. Between this year and last, the share of Republicans naming poverty as a top priority fell from 48 to 34 percent; among Dems, it fell from 67 to 61 percent.

If most people view poverty as an economic issue, one would expect the numbers on the economy and poverty to move in tandem. The fact that they don't suggests that poverty is viewed more in terms of charity and sympathy than economics, as something it's nice to do something about when times are good, but less of a priority in a downtown.

Because the current economic slowdown could prove to be long lasting, it will be important to develop frames and ways of talking about economic disadvantage that don't play into this framing and weaken public support for anti-poverty efforts.