September 13-17, 2012: Reason Foundation/Arthur N. Rupe Foundation—Nationwide poll on whether poverty can be addressed.
(Now I’d like to ask you a few questions about Medicare, the government health insurance program for seniors and the disabled.)…Which comes closest to your view?…The government should pay for retirement health insurance benefits for all seniors. The government should pay for retirement health insurance benefits only for low-income seniors.
55% The government should pay for retirement health insurance benefits for all seniors
35% The government should pay for retirement health insurance benefits only for low-income seniors
10% Don’t know/Refused
Subpopulation/Note: Likely voters.
Survey by Reason Foundation, Arthur N. Rupe Foundation. Methodology: Conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, September 13 – September 17, 2012 and based on 1,006 telephone interviews. Sample: National adult. 602 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 404 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 208 who had no landline telephone. [USREASON.12SEP.R24]
Do you think it is or is not the responsibility of the government to reduce the differences in income between people with high incomes and those with low incomes?
29% It is the government’s responsibility
67% It is not the government’s responsibility
4% Don’t know/Refused
Subpopulation/Note: Likely voters.
Survey by Reason Foundation, Arthur N. Rupe Foundation. Methodology: Conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, September 13 – September 17, 2012 and based on 1,006 telephone interviews. Sample: National adult. 602 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 404 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 208 who had no landline telephone. [USREASON.12SEP.R35]
In your opinion, do most poor people in this country have a very good chance of escaping from poverty or very little chance of escaping poverty?
42% A very good chance of escaping from poverty
51% Very little chance of escaping poverty
7% Don۪t know/Refused
Survey by Reason Foundation, Arthur N. Rupe Foundation. Methodology: Conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, September 13 – September 17, 2012 and based on 1,006 telephone interviews. Sample: National adult. 602 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 404 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 208 who had no landline telephone. [USREASON.12SEP.R36]
Do you think that the fact that some people in the United States are rich and others are poor represents a problem that needs to be fixed or is an acceptable part of our economic system?
35% Represents a problem that needs to be fixed
61% Is an acceptable part of our economic system
4% Don۪t know/Refused
Subpopulation/Note: Likely voters.
Survey by Reason Foundation, Arthur N. Rupe Foundation. Methodology: Conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, September 13 – September 17, 2012 and based on 1,006 telephone interviews. Sample: National adult. 602 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 404 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 208 who had no landline telephone. [USREASON.12SEP.R34]
Formal Citation
Reason-Rupe Poll, Sep, 2012. Retrieved Oct-3-2012 from the iPOLL Databank, The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut. http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/data_access/ipoll/ipoll.html