Report: Low-income voters can help swing elections

Poor People’s group says don’t ignore them

Low-income Americans — who overall are much less likely to vote in national elections than those with higher incomes — are an untapped pool of voters who have the power to swing state and national elections, according to a report released Tuesday.

“Ultimately, it is true that lowincome Americans are less likely to vote, yet it does not have to be that way,” the report’s authors said.

The research is from the Poor People’s Campaign, which champions issues such as health care for all and a $15 minimum wage, though it does not endorse parties or candidates.

The report counts 140 million Americans — everyone who lives at 200% or below the federal poverty level, or about $52,400 annually for a family of four — as poor or low-income.

“Although low-income voters do not share a monolithic political ideology, they do constitute a rather large proportion of the electorate and they tend to share concerns about health care and economic issues,” noted the report, written by Robert Paul Hartley, an assistant professor at Columbia University School of Social Work. Among the findings: • Low-income eligible voters “are about 22 percentage points less likely to vote in national elections than those with higher incomes.”

• “An increase of at least 1% of the non-voting low-income electorate would equal the margin of victory for Michigan in 2016, or a 4 to 7% increase in states such as Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin.”

• “There is little difference in voting by mail according to income status.”

“Changing the political landscape is critical. Poverty and low income are not marginal issues,” said the Rev. William Barber II, a co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, speaking during an online news conference Tuesday.

He pointed to the report’s implications for elections in November.

“The Senate is in play, and poor folks have the power to make the play,” he said.

“A motivating belief of the Poor People’s Campaign is that the votes of poor and low-income Americans can make a difference in our elections,” the report said.

“We believe this evidence supports our campaign’s analysis that organizing can change the narrative of our electoral process and lead to policies that are just and representative for all Americans.”

Ann Sanders, public policy advocate at Pittsburghbased anti-hunger group Just Harvest, said when her organization does voter education or voter registration drives, she often hears from low-income people disillusioned with the political process.

“We do hear frequently, ‘It’s not even worth my time,’ or ‘They’re all crooks,’” said Ms. Sanders, whose organization is on the steering committee of the Poor People’s Campaign in Pennsylvania.

She thinks those comments show many politicians are too removed from the daily concerns of low-income Americans.

In 2012, Pennsylvania settled a lawsuit that alleged it was not properly offering voter-registration applications to people seeking services at county assistance offices or those seeking aid via the Women, Infants & Children nutrition program.

Last year, 42,490 Pennsylvanians either registered to vote or changed their address at a county assistance office, according to the state’s annual report on voter registration from the Department of State.