Americans Differ On Why People are Poor

A new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds that 44% of Americans think poor people are poor mostly because of a lack of opportunities, while only 30% said it’s mostly because of their individual failings.

“While Democrats and independents in the new survey were more likely to think the rich, poor and unemployed got where they are mostly due to outside circumstances, Republicans in the poll largely said the opposite. They tended to think the poor are poor because of individual failings, rather than lack of opportunities (48% to 23%), and that they have a poor work ethic rather than good jobs being unavailable to them (49% to 21%).”