The bottom chart above was made with information from a NBC News / Wall Street Journal Poll done between June 11th and 15th of 2014, of a random national sample of 1,000 adults (and has a margin of error of 3.1 points). The top chart is from information in a similar poll by the same organizations in 1995.
Back in 1995, the American public had a pretty hard-hearted attitude about poverty. A significant majority of about 60% believed people were in poverty because they just hadn't done enough (worked hard enough) to better themselves. Only about 30% believed poverty was due more to circumstances beyond the control of those who were poor.
But there has been a radical change in attitude since then. Currently a plurality of Americans (46%) say poverty is due to circumstances beyond control, while 44% say it is because the poor have just not done enough (a 16 point drop since 1995). The Bush recession that started in 2007 seems to have had a profound effect on attitudes about poverty.
People have experienced the loss of their job due to the recession (or outsourcing), or seen their family members, friends, or neighbors lose their jobs. They have watched hard-working and decent people all of a sudden need assistance from the government -- people who had never needed help in the past. And they have watched as wages remained stagnant and inflation rose -- destroying the buying power of those who still have jobs and shrinking the middle class. And these experiences have softened their attitude about poverty, and its cause.
The American public is starting to realize that the economic playing field has been tilted to benefit the rich and hurt all other Americans. Now they need to put the blame for that where it belongs (the "trickle-down" economic policy imposed by the Republicans in Congress), and vote out the politicians responsible for it. That is the only way we'll be able to return to a fairer and more stable economy, and start to again reduce the poverty level.
