Poverty in the United States: 1985

Timber cutter Beecher Linville with his son Billy in Dawes Hollow, W. Va., in 1985.

Gary Muse, center, trades with a couple for goods they aren’t interested in but got from a food bank in Seattle in May 1985.

In 1985, Dorean Sewell talked to The Times about raising three children in a Baltimore low-income on her salary from a fast-food restaurant, as part of a newspaper series on American attitudes about poverty. A new poll by The Times and the American Enterprise Institute revisits those opinions.

Ola Reynolds in 1985, in the Brunswick, Ga., home she moved into after leaving an abusive relationship. She is working at a seafood packing factory.

In July 1985, Dodie Luster prepares spaghetti while holding her child in her Welch, W. Va., home.

Ada Thompson cooks in her home along Cabin Creek in West Virginia in June 1985. She collects a total of $4,992 a year, including food stamps.

Geraldine Guest at work cleaning a room at the Oleander Motel in Brunswick, Ga., in June 1985.

In June 1985, Ola Reynolds at the home in Brunswick, Ga., she shared with her five children.

Kenneth Jones plays horseshoes in his Baltimore neighborhood to pass the afternoon in June 1985. Jones is looking for work after losing his job with Amtrak.

Kenneth Jones, who lost his job with Amtrak, in Baltimore in June 1985.

Gilbert Maxwell feeds dinner to his twins, Andre and Andrew, before he leaves for work at the King Shrimp Factory in Brunswick, Ga., in June 1985.

Mary Louise Williams talks about poverty programs she had helped originate in Seattle, and her experience in 1985 of having to be a recipient after losing her job.

A recipient leaves with a shopping bag full of goods from the Central Area Motivation Program food bank in Seattle in May 1985.

People line up in May 1985 for groceries to be given away at Central Area Motivation Program food bank in Seattle.