39% Say Government Should Do Nothing For Long-Term Unemployed
More Americans than ever (39%) now think that if people can’t find work for an extended period of time, the government should do nothing at all to help them, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Only eight percent (8%) feel their unemployment benefits should be extended indefinitely, down four points from October and tying the all-time low finding in over two years of regular surveying. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Thirty-two percent (32%) of Adults believe the government should pay for their retraining, tying April’s high. Just 12% think the government should hire the long-term unemployed.
Win an IPad: Take the Rasmussen Challenge. This week’s entries will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on December 1-2, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.
We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.
Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.
To learn more about our methodology, click here.