Asking the Question: Have You Ever Used a Government Social Program?

Through ways both subtle and obvious, government touches the lives of most Americans. There are both indirect social programs, such as the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction and the Earned Income Tax Credit — which are in a sense “hidden” in the tax code — as well as direct and highly visible programs such as Social Security and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. But as scholars at Cornell University point out in a 2012 paper, “We know remarkably little about how people experience public policies and whether they are even aware of or credit government‘s role in providing them.”

Of course, government social programs in general have become politically radioactive in the past few decades. That has not always been the case. The Cornell scholars point to a 1994 study on the genealogy of the word “dependency” in American culture; the study establishes that language around the American welfare state was once more benign but has become increasingly fraught with negative meaning. The 2012 Cornell paper, “Who Says They Have Ever Used A Government Social Program? The Role of Policy Visibility” (PDF), analyzes survey data from the 2008 Social and Governmental Issues and Participation Study. It asked a random national sample of 1,000 Americans about their views on government programs and compared it to their actual use of specific programs over their lifetimes.

The findings include:

• Among the 21 federal social programs asked about, respondents on average had taken advantage of 4.47 programs. Seventy-three percent had accessed at least one direct program, and 87% had used an indirect program. Only 4% said they had not utilized at least one program, either direct or indirect.

• As for indirect programs — what the scholars refer to as “submerged policies,” which have lower visibility among the citizenry — respondents used an average of 2.53 programs. These included the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction; the HOPE and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits; Child and Dependent Care Tax Credits; 529 (Qualified Tuition Program) or Coverdell Education Savings Account (education IRAs); the Earned Income Tax Credit; and “usage of student loans and employer subsidized health and retirement benefits.”
• When asked whether they had “ever used a government social program,” however, the majority responded that they had not. Among those who said “no,” the average number of government programs they had actually used was 3.8. Only 5% of that group, it turned out, actually did not use a government program of any kind. For those who acknowledged accessing programs, the average used was 5.3.