Prior to September 11, the issue of poverty in America was poised to move to the center of the public opinion stage, as the first welfare recipients approached the end of the five-year limit on their federal assistance imposed by the welfare reform law of 1996. That focus of attention shifted, of course, with the terrorist attacks and ensuing war. Like so many other domestic calamities, poverty was, for a time, pushed to the background of the public consciousness, and there has since been little polling on the subject, even as the economy has gone into recession.

Yet the poor are still here, as we are told in Matthew 26:11, among us always.

Some would prefer to believe they were not; the idea of an America divided into "haves" and "have-nots" runs counter to the vision many of us hold dear of a land of opportunity and equality for all. Polls find a majority denying such a division exists, and Americans don't come close to agreeing on what the meaning of poverty is, at least not in dollar terms.

Indeed, many of the survey responses make one wonder what is going on in some of the nation's households. How is it that nearly one in ten people with incomes of more than $50,000 couldn't pay their utility bills in the previous year? Is it simple gratitude for a roof over their heads that leads nearly two-thirds of the lowest-income respondents to express satisfaction with their housing, while 28% in the $50-75,000 group say they're dissatisfied with their furnishings and appliances?

And, given these clearly divergent frames of reference within which we assess our own economic well-being, how troubled should we be that over a third of Americans consider themselves poor?

We would like to think no one has to be poor in America today. Nearly three-quarters of us believe that "most people who want to get ahead can make it if they're willing to try," and close to half say poverty is due less to unfortunate circumstance than to people simply not doing enough to help themselves out of it.

But we are not terribly optimistic that poverty in the US can ever be eliminated. And the polls presented here are completely silent on what we think about poverty in other parts of the world, where the frame of reference might be defined, quite literally, by the provision of one's daily bread, or the possession of a blanket or a tent.

That, however, is a calamity of an entirely different magnitude, and beyond the scope of this examination.

For more information on poverty, visit the Roper Center's Public Perspective magazine.