“Blessed are the Poor:” American Protestantism and Attitudes Toward Poverty and Welfare

Abstract

Scholars have previously documented a substantial discrepancy in American public opinion between attitudes toward “the poor” and attitudes toward “people on welfare.” Past studies, however, have generally ignored the role of religion in producing, magnifying, or mitigating this divergence. This paper explores the impact of religious affiliations on the size and nature of the gap, examining differences between three major groups of American Protestants: mainline Protestants, evangelicals, and black Protestants. Significant differences emerge among the three groups on answers to both affective and policy‐oriented questions, and in both bivariate and multivariate contexts. Ultimately, it appears that religious tradition must figure in any explanation of American attitudes toward poverty and welfare.