For more on the Rounds-Daugaard legacy, we turn to Todd Epp, who cites Census figures to report that the number and percentage of South Dakotans receiving public assistance since 2000 has gone up:
In 2000, an estimated 4,078 South Dakotans or 1.4 percent of the population were on public assistance, according to the report, with recipients increasing nearly two a half-fold from 2000 to 2012 [Todd Epp, "South Dakota Sees Increase in Citizens on Public Assistance," Northern Plains News, 2014.09.03].
From 2000 to 2012, the percentage of South Dakotans on public assistance increased by 1.5 percentage points, the percentage of all Americans on public assistance increased only by 0.3 percentage points. In yucky liberal New York and California, the percentage decreased.
The current Governor made a third of that South Dakota jump happen in just one year. From 2011 to 2012, in the first full year of Dennis Daugaard's fiscal austerity and juche, the percentage of South Dakotans on public assistance rose from 2.4% to 2.9%. South Dakota was one of only seven states showing a statistically significant increase in the percentage of citizens on public assistance. Nationally, under Obamanomics, that percentage stayed flat.
Daugaard and Rounds like to take credit for jobs created during their watch; let's hear them take credit for the increasing public assistance recipients.