" A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted in early 1992 showed that
public opinion on welfare changed depending on how the question was
worded. If the word “welfare” was used, 44 percent of those questioned said
too much was being spent on welfare (while 50 percent said either that the
right amount was being spent, or that too little was being spent. But when the
question was about “assistance to the poor,” only 13 percent thought too much
was being spent, and 64 percent thought too little was being spent.
This suggested that both parties were trying to manufacture an antihumanneeds mood by constant derogatory use of the word “welfare,” and then to
claim they were acting in response to public opinion. The Democrats as well
as the Republicans had strong connections to wealthy corporations. Kevin
Phillips, a Republican analyst of national politics, wrote in 1990 that the
Democratic Party was “history’s second-most enthusiastic capitalist party "

― Howard Zinn , A People's History of the United States