GALLUP NEWS SERVICE January 30, 2001
Though Very Religious, Americans Have Said Government is Responsible for the Poor Nonetheless, Americans have significantly more confidence in organized religion than in federal government
by Wendy W. Simmons
PRINCETON, NJ -- The Bush administration announced on Monday that it plans to create a federal office -- the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives -- that will be charged with encouraging the integration of "faith-based" groups into federally funded social services, such as child care, mental health and drug abuse services and job training. Bush appointed John DiIulio, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, to head the new agency, which was created by executive order. DiIulio will report directly to the president. Critics of the idea argue that using public money to finance religious organizations is a violation of the Constitution, which prescribes a separation of church and state. A review of Gallup poll data shows that, on the one hand, Americans are very religious but that, on the other hand, Americans have been more likely to think that government, not churches, has the greatest responsibility for helping the poor.
Public Thinks the Government Should Take Care of the Poor Although Gallup has not surveyed the public on a proposed partnership between religious organizations and government to help the poor, related data suggest that Americans are more likely to think that poverty is the government's problem to alleviate, rather than that of organized religion. There have been two poll questions focusing on this area in recent years. In a poll conducted in September of 1995, Gallup asked Americans which institution should be more responsible for providing assistance to the poor -- government or religious. At that point, fifty-five percent of Americans said the government was more responsible for assistance to the poor, while 28% thought religious organizations were more responsible. Ten percent volunteered that both government and religious organizations were responsible.
More recently, in a poll conducted April 23-May 31, 1998, a plurality of Americans (32%) said that government had the greatest responsibility for helping the poor, compared to 14% who chose churches, while 28% said the poor themselves had the most responsibility. Additionally, 12% named 'families of poor people' and 6% said other private charities were most responsible in aiding the poor.
Public Has a Lot of Confidence in Organized Religion, Not Government Regardless of what the public thinks about the role religious groups should play in fighting poverty, a majority of Americans have a high level of confidence in organized religion generally, although the number of people expressing confidence has dwindled somewhat since the 1970s. According to a poll conducted June 22-25, 2000, 56% of Americans have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in the "church or organized religion." In 1975, 68% of the public expressed a high degree of confidence in the church.
In fact, Americans have more confidence in organized religion than any other social institution, with the exception of the military, in which 64% of the public express confidence. None of the three branches of government receive high confidence ratings from the public. Importantly, just 24% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Congress -- the branch of the government that creates the programs that are responsible for federal involvement in helping the poor. Forty-seven percent of Americans have confidence in the Supreme Court, and 42% have confidence in the presidency.