Views about government aid to the poor among who say common sense is their primary source of guidance on what's right and wrong by views about size of government (2014) Switch to: Views about size of government among who say common sense is their primary source of guidance on what's right and wrong by views about government aid to the poor

% of who say common sense is their primary source of guidance on what's right and wrong who say government aid to the poor…

Views about size of governmentDoes more harm than goodDoes more good than harmNeither/both equallyDon't knowSample size
Smaller government; fewer services62%33%3%1%8,285
Bigger government; more services27%69%3%2%5,851
Depends26%52%18%3%476
Don't know25%54%10%11%578
Sample sizes and margins of error vary from subgroup to subgroup, from year to year and from state to state. You can see the sample size for the estimates in this chart on rollover or in the last column of the table. And visit this table to see approximate margins of error for a group of a given size. Readers should always bear in mind the approximate margin of error for the group they are examining when making comparisons with other groups or assessing the significance of trends over time. For full question wording, see the survey questionnaire.

Learn More: Does more harm than good, Does more good than harm