In America at least, wealth mobility has been terrible historically. ie. If you were born poor you’re more likely to die poor. Born rich and you’re not likely to lose it. Despite all the data against it, poor people are still sold the American dream. This is a contradiction.

Leftists would see the poor as powerless against a system and society that set them up to fail, and aim to change the aspects of society that forces them to be poor, while others profited and thrived off of their labor.

Conservatives would (if you could read their minds at least, they know their thoughts are awful enough to keep to themselves) see the poor as powerless in the sense that they couldn’t help themselves and are therefore somehow not worthy of a dignified life.

And the fence sitters will allow half assed bandaids like welfare, Medicaid, and food stamps. And when the conservatives say they need to cut taxes for the rich, centerists will happily axe the bandaids, because they didn’t solve the core problems forcing people to be poor (and they were never designed to.)