There was a lot of sentiment for reducing spending on food stamps in the early 1980s, but then things evened out. Since 1984, the usual numbers have been about 20% in favor of increasing, 30% in favor of decreasing, and 45% in favor of keeping it the same (the rest "don't know"). November 1994 was the only exception. My impression seems to have been about right--calls to cut food stamps aren't as popular as they were in the days of Ronald Reagan, or even Newt Gingrich.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Food Stamps
Conservatives have tried to label Obama the "food stamp president," but my impression was that they haven't gotten a lot of traction with the issue. I looked for more systematic information on views of food stamps. There have been some (although fewer than I would have expected) straightforward questions of the basic form "should spending on food stamps be increased, decreased, or kept about the same?" Here is a figure showing the difference between "increased" and "decreased". For example, in January 1981 11% said increased and 47% said decreased, for a balance of -36.
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