Gallup: Most in poverty are independents

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Fifty percent of U.S. adults living in poverty identify themselves as independents, 32 percent as Democrats and 15 percent as Republicans, a survey indicates.

For those not in poverty, 40 percent said they were political independents, 30 percent said they were Democrats and 28 percent said they were Republicans, Gallup officials said.

The relatively high percentage of those in poverty who said they were political independents suggests these individuals were less likely than average to be engaged in the political process.

However, 51 U.S. percent of adults in poverty approved of President Barack Obama in 2011, compared with 45 percent not in poverty.

Almost all adults who were in poverty last year would fall into the "47 percent" group that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said "have become dependent upon government" and "believe they are victims," and that his job "is not to worry about those people."

"Although Americans in poverty apparently lean more toward the Democratic Party than the GOP and are more positive about Obama than are those who are not in poverty, some are Republicans and many are politically on the sidelines," Gallup officials said. "It does not appear that this group monolithically supports Obama, as Romney's statement might have implied."

The results are based on telephone interviews with a random selection of 353,492 U.S. adults throughout 2011. Their poverty status was based on 2011 U.S. census figures.

The survey has a margin of error of 1 percentage point.