Perceptions of Poverty in Canada 2011

Poverty in Canada 2011

Perceptions of poverty and the impoverished

2

Methodology

The study was conducted online with a sample of 1026 Canadians drawn from the Angus Reid Forum, a panel of 100,000+ Canadians who have agreed to participate in research

This panel, which has won awards for its exemplary quality, is balanced to be representative of the Canadian population.

The survey was conducted January 26 and 27, 2011 in English and French. The data were weighted by age, gender, region, language and past Federal vote, to ensure final representativeness.

With a sample of this size, the data can be considered accurate approximately +/- 3.1%, nineteen times out of twenty.

3

Poverty and DignityEveryone supports the notion of dignity, but not everyone thinks poverty robs you of dignity

I believe that everyone deserves a sense of dignity

I believe providing a sense of human dignity is a critical part of any social service program

Being poor robs you of dignity

Poor people have hard lives because government benefits don’t go far enough to help them live with dignity

96%

92%

65%

53%

% agree

4

Escape from PovertyPeople are generally supportive of helping people escape poverty, but some don’t think they can much about it

People in poverty deserve a helping hand

Once you become poor it is really hard to find a way out of poverty

I think that if we gave poor people more assistance, they could escape poverty

Poverty is a trap some Canadians just can’t escape, no matter how hard they try

There is really nothing much I can do to help poor people

Poverty seems to be more of a problem among “new Canadians” and immigrants than Canadians born here

Poverty is a problem that we can’t really do much about in our society

89%

70%

68%

63%

37%

23%

18%

% agree

5

Children in PovertyPeople generally agree that helping children living in poverty opens the door to future success

Helping poor families sets up children from poor families for success

Children living in poverty in Canada have the same chance as any other child to get ahead in life

81%

25%

% agree

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The Poor are the ProblemThere is a significant minority who think the poor could work their way out of poverty if they really wanted to

If poor people really want to work, they can always find a job

A good work ethic is all you need to escape poverty

I think that if we gave poor people more assistance, they would just take advantage of it and do nothing

Poor people usually have lower moral values

People are poor because they are lazy

49%

43%

41%

28%

23%

% agree

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How Poor is Poor?People recognise minimum wage isn’t much to live on, but a significant minority think the poor have it “pretty good”

It is almost impossible to survive on your own on min-imum wage

People in Canada who are living in “poverty” still have it pretty good

I don’t really see many people in Canada who are truly poor

85%

37%

24%

% agree

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Monetary Definition of Poverty

Yearly income level that

makes a family “poor”

$21,643Least amountfamily of four

can live on in Canada

$32,499

I’d like to know what yearly income level you think makes a family “poor”. If you are not sure, please give it your best estimate.I'd like to know what you think is the least amount of money a family of four can get by on in Canada in a year. If you are not sure, please give it your best estimate.

Uncovering the schools of thoughton poverty in Canada

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Uncovering schools of thought on Poverty

We see differences of opinion on many of these topics. But what we don’t see is how the opinions come together to form a mindset.

So we used a technique called cluster analysis, which identifies groups of people with similar attitudes.

This analysis uncovered four distinct mindsets ,or schools of thought, on Poverty among Canadians.

Compassion and personal responsibility are the main dimensions which divide these four schools of thought

Poor could use help

Poor should DIY

Low HighCompassion for poor

Sympathisers31%

Boot-Strappers

21%

The Jaded17%

PersonalResponsibility

32%Per

son

al R

esp

on

sib

ilit

y

Bootstrappers 21% of Canadians

Bootstrappers think people are poor because they are lazy, and that the poor still have it “pretty good”.

A “good work ethic is all you need to escape poverty” they believe. And they are convinced that “if poor people really want to work, then can always find a job”.

They also think that “if we gave poor people more assistance they would just take advantage of it”. They also disagree with the idea that “if we gave poor people more assistance they could escape poverty”.

The Jaded 17% of Canadians

The Jaded have a kind of weary fatalistic view of the poor and the poverty they are in. They believe it robs you of dignity and that it is a trap some people can’t escape.

But they also think a good work ethic is all you need to escape poverty and that “if poor people really want to work, they can always find a job”. They also agree that “poor people usually have lower moral values” . The Jaded don’t think that they themselves can do anything to help the poor.

That said, they do believe something can be done about poverty and that assistance could help people escape poverty—if, it would seem, the impoverished change their ways.

Personal Responsibility 32% of Canadians

People in the Personal Responsibility group are fairly sympathetic to those trapped in poverty. They don’t think the poor “have it pretty good”. Neither do they think a good work ethic is all you need to escape poverty.

They believe “people in poverty deserve a helping hand” and are optimistic that if we gave poor people more assistance they could escape poverty.

But they don’t agree that “poor people have hard lives because government benefits don’t go far enough”. They are not fully convinced that Poverty is a trap some Canadians just can’t escape.

Sympathisers31% of Canadians

Sympathisers are passionate about poverty. They strongly disagree that people are poor because they are lazy. And they strongly agree the poor deserve a helping hand.

They don’t believe that a good work ethic is all you need to escape poverty. And they don’t think the poor have lower moral values.

They also feel very strongly that poverty is something we can and should do something about. They firmly believe in providing assistance, and don’t think that help would be exploited. They very strongly agree everyone deserves a sense of dignity.

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Monetary Definition of PovertyBy Segment

Bootstrappers

The Jaded

The Sympathetic

Personal Responsibility

$19,719

$19,279

$22,721

$23,102

$28,774

$34,854

$31,261

$34,876

Least amount family of four can live on in CanadaYearly income level that makes a family "poor"

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Segment Demographics

70%

30%

40%60%

42%58%

43%57%

Bootstrappers

The Jaded

TheSympathetic

PersonalResponsibility

Gender AgeMale Female

18-34 35-54 55+

30%42%

29%

<$50K $50K-$99K

$100K+

59%

30%11%

Univ+ College/ Tech

HS or less

22%32%

46%

Income Education

18-34 35-54 55+

38% 40%

23%

<$50K $50K-$99K

$100K+

56%

33%10%

Univ+ College/ Tech

HS or less

17%30%

53%

18-34 35-54 55+

48%

28% 25%

<$50K $50K-$99K

$100K+

38% 39%

23%

Univ+ College/ Tech

HS or less

17%

33%

50%

18-34 35-54 55+

27%

49%

25%

<$50K $50K-$99K

$100K+

46%34%

19%

Univ+ College/ Tech

HS or less

26% 27%

47%

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Bootstrappers

The Jaded

TheSympathetic

PersonalResponsibili

ty

Religious Service Attendance

Vote Intentions

Segment Demographics

10%

10%

13%

18%

2%

3%

3%

3%

14%

16%

12%

13%

29%

38%

29%

29%

45%

33%

42%

37%

Never Seldom A few times a yearOnce or twice a month Once a week

53%

20%

15%

23%

7%

25%

19%

18%

10%

7%

19%

15%

6%

5%

10%

7%

2%

8%

10%

7%

Green Party Bloc NDP Liberal Conservatives

Undecided and others not shown

Bootstrappers

The Jaded

TheSympathetic

PersonalResponsibili

ty

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Where do the segments live?

17%

5%

34%

45%

BC

36%

21%

15%

29%

Alberta

36%

11%

7%

46%

Man/Sask

22%

20%

32%

27%

Ontario

12%

17%

39%

32%

Atlantic

14%

18%

38%

30%

Quebec

Personal ResponsibilityThe SympatheticThe JadedBootstrappers

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Where do the segments live?

Bootstrappers

The Jaded

The Sympathetic

Personal Responsibility

77%

85%

86%

82%

23%

15%

14%

18%

Rural Urban

Poverty in Canada 2011

Perceptions of poverty and the impoverished