May 20, 2004
Report & Analysis · Other Poll Releases
According to the latest Peach State Poll, poverty is seen as a significant problem within the state by a majority of Georgians. Fifty-three percent of Georgians see poverty as a major problem for the state, and another 41 percent characterize it as a minor problem. In addition, Georgians believe that ordinary citizens must be engaged in order to fight poverty effectively. Among the many groups seen as very important in efforts to fight poverty, ordinary citizens are seen as the most important (66 percent), followed by state government (64 percent), local government (62 percent), and federal government (58 percent).
The Peach State Poll is a quarterly survey of public opinion conducted by the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
Other Peach State Poll results:
* A plurality of Georgians (46 percent) attribute poverty to the poor not doing enough to help themselves out while 40 percent attribute it to circumstances beyond the control of those who live in it.
* Beliefs about the root cause of poverty are strongly correlated with political affiliation. Sixty-four percent of Republicans feel that poverty is caused by individual actions whereas 61 percent of Democrats tend to believe that the causes lie in circumstances beyond the individual’s control.
* Georgians consider the federal government’s threshold for poverty too low. On average, Georgians believe that the minimum that a family of four can live on today is $35,641. This is nearly double the federal threshold of $18,660 for a family of four with two children (see figure).
* Georgians believe that the issue of poverty is better addressed by state government (34 percent) than by local governments (27 percent) or the federal government (22 percent).
These data were taken from a Peach State Poll survey conducted between February 27 and March 8, 2004. The poll included 800 telephone interviews of randomly selected adults in Georgia. For a sample of this size, the margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level is ±3.5 percent.
