Who is more likely to vote? Unemployment or welfare recipients?

1. 59

   IDONOposted 12 years ago

   Who is more likely to vote? Unemployment or welfare recipients?
   
   Even though the number of people is far larger of welfare recipients, ( in some form ) I,m guessing more unemployment people will vote. I'm talking numbers, not %. I believe economic issues are very important to unemployment people because they want work. They have proven that by being eligible for UC in the first place. Many (not all) welfare people are satisfied with the way things are therefore not feeling that voting is necessary. Politically incorrect, but accurate. Tell me I'm right. Tell me I'm wrong.

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   Credence2posted 12 years ago

   Most welfare recipients, while many believe that they are self-satisfied ,are demorilized, They have a sense of apathy or indifference to the  voting process as survival is the most crucial aspect in their lives. The unemployed are in a better place psychologically, recognizing that their circumstance may well be temporary and do not color their lives as a whole. For this reason, the unemployed are the more likely to vote between the two.

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      NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Absolutely agree.

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   larryprice5372posted 12 years ago

   I think unemployed people will have a say in this election.  Economic issues are more in the voters mind than getting something for free.
   
   Moreover, I do not believe most welfare recipients will show at the voting booth and usually do not.  It is the working class that will vote, and it will be for jobs.  Obamacare is stagnating new hiring and must be repealed.  Employers have no real idea what their burden will be in 2018, if they hire new emplyee's are they going to foot a huge burden?  That's what I think is primarily the reason they will not hire under Obama.  There are other points too: GATT and NAFTA need revisiting, etc.  The Republicans will do that, in my beleif.

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      Pollyannalanaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I can't see how anyone could leave things as they are and I find it so hard to believe with so many people we see online and yahoo big time saying they have had enough of Obama but polls show him ahead? I think poll talk is all lies.

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      IDONOposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Polly.I believe people don't think this is the time to get overly conservative. More people are willing to go all in, hoping for high risk- high reward. Also, speaking of stagnation, The Republican congress can't seem to work an 8 hour day.

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   Kimberly Vaughnposted 12 years ago

   I don't know who is more likely to vote but I do feel like welfare recipients get a bad wrap. 11 years ago I received government assistance for about 10 months. I was in college and had a baby. I complete college early, found a full time job, went on to to be promoted within my company three times, and obtained a Masters in Business Administration. I consider myself a government assistance success story. I think that there are a lot people who don't know anyone receiving government assistance, or are not aware that they do, so they lump them into an us versus them mindset. I think there are a lot of assumptions about people that utilize government assistance and some times those assumptions may be true but I would bet most of the time they are not.

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      NicholasAposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I agree Kimberly. People on Government assistance do get a bad wrap. The people in charge have turned it into an "us" vs "them" and no one seems to notice it. Comments regarding government assistance become an attack on individuals that are using it.

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      IDONOposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Congrats on your success. I now believe the us and them theory. You and Nich just confirmed it. While complaining about being lumped into one group or the other, you just lumped yourselves. Read your own answers.

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   Ericdierkerposted 12 years ago

   I met a beautiful lady in the grocery store checkout. She had with her what looked like well cared for, happy, disciplined 3 year old twins. My son was playing peekaboo with them and I complimented her and her great boys. She apologized for taking so long with her "welfare" payment for healthy food for the boys. Then corrected me that they were grand kids left to her care. You see their daddy was her boy but was in Afghanistan as a soldier. And three months ago, their mommy had been killed by random drive by shooters, thank God He spared the boys.
   
   Well I imagine that fine lady and her son will both vote. I imagine she will take the boys with her when she does. I imagine folk like that vote for the good of the nation and not for their own self interest. I hope she gets unemployment and I hope she gets welfare, and I hope most of all that the daddy comes home safe.
   I hope that story puts some perspective on classifying good folk by the assistance they need.

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      ritsukakunxposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That is a good story. People like that deserve assistance and it is good to see them putting it to good use, instead of buying all junk. I don't agree that people shouldn't be able to splurge, but they really should be making healthy options instead.

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      IDONOposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Splurging is okay as long as it is your own money. Not other's.

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   jose7polancoposted 12 years ago

   You know what, both are good in purpose but bad for it makes people lazy. Unemployment has more chances because is like a reward for those who worked and for situations beyond their control lost their job.
   Its hard to find a job, unemployment is given only to those who worked,

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   1. 59

      IDONOposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Unemployment is not a reward; it's insurance. Workers pay into it every hour they work. I am not questioning anyone's character. Just their motivation to vote.

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   kthix10posted 12 years ago

   I found myself unemployed through no fault of my own unexpectedly this year, after 7 months I am now gainfully employed, but without unemployment we would have had some serious financial consequences.  Many of today's unemployed are highly educated people who never expected to be standing in the unemployment lines.  Most of us want more than a job, we want our careers, so it takes a bit longer to find a position you know isn't just a temporary solution.

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      IDONOposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I am in the same position, but does that make the difference whether you vote or not?

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   dianetrotterposted 12 years ago

   I would think unemployed.  Unemployed is usually a group that wants to be employed.  However, I understand that welfare recipients are on welfare for a variety of reasons.  When I graduated high school, a friend was on welfare, raising her 4 younger brothers and sisters.  Their mother died of cancer the year before.

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      IDONOposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      These are the cases that welfare is there for. Not a woman that continues to have babies or a dead beat dad that doesn't pay his child support. Unfortunately, the latter is more common.

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   MPChrisposted 12 years ago

   Your statement is both politically incorrect and inaccurate. Many of those who receive welfare benefits are marginally employed, and occasionally fully employed. There are many cases of people moving from one program to the other, and then becoming re-employed only to repeat the cycle. What you are attempting to do is create an 'US-vs-Them' mentality, when its really very similar people trading places, depending upon circumstance.
   
   Also, importantly, the vast majority of recipients of TANF and other welfare programs are ineligible to vote, mostly because they are under the age of majority.
   
   Source: http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/?q=node/222
   
   A child can recieve welfare on their own if emancipated, or if they are a ward of the state. On top of that, TANF counts those children already in existing households.
   
   Importantly, TANF is designed to be temporary, and since 1998, single persons who are recipients must be partially employed. To put it in perspective, a Single Mother of Four, on TANF and foodstamps, would get a total benefit of somewhere around 900 USD a month, of which 400 is specifically earmarked for food and some specific toiletries.
   
   So, to answer your question, I do believe both persons are likely to want to vote. However, the question is will vote. I would say those recieving unemployment benefits have more access to reliable transportation. While it was a small case study, something like 80% of TANF recipients I interviewed in 2010 as apart of a class had no access to any private transportation. That isn't so bad if you are in walking distance or have public transportation in your city, but things like the weather and the commute itself can be problematic.

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    flacoinohioposted 12 years ago

    Obama was the first President since Kennedy to create an atmosphere of excitement about the possibility of a positive change in this country.  He managed to get people who have never voted or have not voted in a long time to go out and vote.  I also think that in the years before the current Presidency a limited population was voting which comprised of persons over the age of 60, there used to be a running joke that 40% of the population was making decisions for the rest of the population.  I would have said the unemployed four years ago, but i think it will be even this time around, with an increase of first time voters.

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    Express10posted 11 years ago

    I think this is a great question and believe that once we drop political correctness, mean spirited attacks, and honestly discuss things that we can have a better understanding to not only better ourselves and our communities. In my long winded way, I think that those on unemployment are more likely to vote not only because they want to work, but because they are also more likely to have vehicles, personal and professional connections, and a better mindset that is more likely to enable them to participate. Those who are on welfare are barely surviving, probably embarrassed about their situations, and may not have the resources to get the things needed to vote such as proper ID's and transportation. Because they are in survival mode and have little to no resources, they likely are too occupied to make the effort to vote and see little reward in doing so.

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