New York, NY -- Ninety-three percent of Americans, and 88% of those in households now receiving welfare, want the current welfare system changed, according to The Values We Live By: What Americans Want From Welfare Reform, a new Public Agenda study released today. The public's strong level of discontent stems from their dissatisfaction with the system itself, not from the costs or the fraud perceived to be associated with it. By more than four to one (65% to 14%), Americans say the most upsetting thing about welfare is that it encourages people to adopt the wrong lifestyle and values, not that it costs too much in tax money. For Americans, regardless of their race, income, education, or geographic location, the current welfare system contradicts the fundamental values they see as the cornerstones of society: work, commitment to family, responsibility, and self-discipline.

In the public's mind, the centerpiece of welfare reform should be work. That welfare recipients can obtain benefits while remaining idle is seen as wrong on three counts: it is viewed as not good for the recipients; as unfair to the community; and as morally offensive. Eighty-five percent of Americans say they would be satisfied if recipients were required to do something in exchange for their benefits even if it was just raking leaves or cleaning roads. Fifty-seven percent of the public would even require a mentally and physically handicapped recipient to do community service. Americans' displeasure with the current system is intense and deeply felt. Many seem passionately disheartened and resentful that they must work to support themselves and their families while welfare recipients do not. A majority of blacks and whites fault the system for giving benefits without requiring work in return.

Americans are startlingly clear about what they feel is wrong with welfare and what they want to see reformed, said Deborah Wadsworth, Public Agenda's Executive Director. Even if government could provide the current system at far less cost and with no fraud whatsoever, people would still be deeply angry. Americans resent being asked to support a system which, in their view, fosters such long-term idleness and complacency, Wadsworth added.

Work is so central to Americans' view of welfare reform that mothers on welfare are not exempt from work requirements. Ninety-four percent feel mothers on welfare will gain self-respect by working and their children will learn the importance of work as a result. Seventy-six percent feel it is not fair to give mothers on welfare the benefit of staying home with their children when mothers who work do not have that luxury. Americans also feel most mothers on welfare will be more careful and have fewer children if benefits are not increased with each child. Again, these findings hold across racial lines.

While Americans feel that too frequently welfare becomes a permanent lifestyle for recipients and their children rather than an emergency rescue service, they are not interested in punishing those on welfare. Only 4% of Americans believe welfare should be eliminated altogether, and only two in ten (19%) think reducing the benefits of recipients is essential to improving the welfare system. Americans feel a responsibility toward those less fortunate, but want a welfare system that does not coddle recipients. The public supports comprehensive reform, including time limits, job training programs, community service and child care. In the public's mind, these measures directly address ending welfare dependency and moving recipients into the working world. Seventy-seven percent of Americans think requiring welfare recipients to enroll in job training and education programs is absolutely essential to improving welfare, and 68% feel providing child care while welfare mothers work or go to school is critical.

The public's support for these reforms, however, is not doctrinaire. While 57% say putting a strict time limit on how long people receive welfare benefits is absolutely essential, almost nine in ten (87%) would reconsider the time limit for welfare recipients who face medical or family emergencies just as their benefits run out. And while three- fourths (77%) think required job training programs are absolutely essential, almost half (47%) would reconsider these programs if they ended up attracting more to welfare.

Regardless of what caused an individual to go on welfare, Americans want to help. But they don't want to be patsies, said Wadsworth. Welfare, in the minds of most Americans, has become a permanent crutch for too many people who could end their dependency if they really tried. Work, be it community service or a paying job, is considered essential to dignity and self-worth.

The Values We Live By is based on a national telephone survey of 1,000 randomly selected Americans conducted in December of 1995 (margin of error plus or minus 3%). In addition, oversample telephone interviews were held with 200 African- Americans nationwide, 200 New York state residents, 200 African-American New York state residents, 200 Florida residents, 200 Chicago residents and 200 downstate Illinois residents (see Special Focus on pages 35-37 of the report). Findings from eight focus groups are also included. For a full description of the methodology, see page 48 of the report.

Additional findings from The Values We Live By:

• Only 9% of Americans from households receiving welfare would leave the system unchanged.
• Twelve percent of Americans say they or someone in their household currently receives benefits from welfare programs such as AFDC or food stamps; 41% say they or someone in their close family has received benefits in the past.
• Sixty-seven percent of respondents from households receiving welfare believe welfare fraud is a very serious problem; 63% support paying surprise visits to welfare recipients' homes to verify that recipients deserve their benefits.
• Almost six in ten Americans (59%) have personally seen someone abusing their welfare benefits or cheating the system.
• Only 35% of Americans would be more comfortable with welfare if most of the fraud were eliminated; 65% would still want it changed.
• Sixty-nine percent of whites, and 68% of blacks, think the system makes it financially better for people to stay on welfare; 71% of respondents from households receiving welfare agree.
• Fifty-six percent of blacks, and 61% of whites, would not increase benefits for mothers on welfare when they have more children; 74% of blacks, and 72% of whites, think most mothers on welfare will be more careful and have fewer children if they stop receiving extra benefits.
• Fifty-five percent of Americans would invest time and money to retrain recent welfare applicants for quality jobs; 58% believe it is more important to push long- term recipients to work as quickly as possible, even in menial jobs.
• Sixty percent of whites say welfare should guarantee America's poor the basics, but only temporarily and in an emergency; 48% of blacks agree.
• Sixty-six percent of blacks versus 35% of whites say television coverage unfairly focuses on welfare recipients who are black.
• Sixty-nine percent of Americans say work is something they enjoy, something that gives them a sense of accomplishment; only 28% say they work only to survive and make a living and would stop if they could afford to do so.
• Eighty-seven percent of Americans believe many welfare recipients will become working citizens who pay taxes as a result of job training programs.
• Eighty-eight percent of Americans say, Despite their flaws, programs like food stamps, AFDC, and Medicaid help millions of poor adults and children live healthier lives.

The Values We Live By was made possible by grants from The New York Community Trust, and The Edna McConnell Clark, Henry J. Kaiser Family, and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundations. Public Agenda is solely responsible for developing the lines of inquiry, designing the questionnaire and analyzing and reporting the results.

Public Agenda is a nonpartisan, nonprofit public opinion research and education organization working to help citizens better understand complex policy issues and to help the nation's leaders better understand the public's point of view. It was founded in 1975 by Daniel Yankelovich and Cyrus Vance, and since then has addressed a wide range of issues including education reform, foreign policy, saving and retirement, health care and crime.