The Center for Public Opinion Polling at Elon University is among the contributors to a two-week public radio series on poverty in North Carolina. Details...
“North Carolina Voices: Understanding Poverty,” began airing on North Carolina Public Radio, broadcast from radio station WUNC in Chapel Hill, on Monday, April 11. The series will continue through Friday, April 22.
The Center for Public Opinion Polling surveyed 526 adult North Carolinians about their perceptions of poverty in their communities, the state, and the nation as part of the Elon University Poll Feb. 14-17.
Results from the poll have been incorporated into the series. Dr. Tim Vercellotti, director of the Elon University Poll and an assistant professor of political science at Elon, also will discuss the poll’s findings on “The State of Things,” WUNC’s daily talk show. The program will air at noon on Wednesday, April 13.
More than 100 Elon University students, all trained to work as survey interviewers, collected the data for the poll.
Among the poll’s major findings:
- Nearly 59 percent said that poverty is a big problem in North Carolina, while close to 34 percent said poverty is a big problem in their area. The severity of the problem was perceived to be the greatest among those living in rural areas.
- Forty percent said the country has lost ground in the past few years in terms of solving the problem of poverty. Forty-six percent said things are about the same as they were a few years ago, while only 11 percent said things are improving.
- Nearly 68 percent said that most poor people in North Carolina are people who work, but can’t earn enough money, while 24 percent said most poor people don’t work.
- While the federal poverty level for a family of four is about $19,000 per year, only 14 percent of the sample said they thought a family of four could get by on $19,000 per year or less.
- Fifty-eight percent said the government is spending too little money in fighting poverty, while 19 percent said the government is spending the right amount and nearly 14 percent said the government is spending too much.
- Of those who said the government is spending too little money, 61 percent said they would be willing to pay higher taxes to combat poverty. That percentage translated into about 35 percent of the entire sample.
“The picture that emerges is one of a significant problem in North Carolina,” Vercellotti said. “Citizens seem to recognize the seriousness of the problem, and there is some expectation that the government should do more to address the problem.”
Additional information about the series, “North Carolina Voices: Understanding Poverty,” can be found here.
The full results of the poll are available at the Web site below: