It has occurred to me recently that people perception of these is changing.
The first one - the perception of poverty - came up when, amongst my group of friends (all pensioners). One, whom we know has the lowest income of all of us and receives some pensioner benefits, changed her car. I was surprised when an admittedly right wing friend was horrified and immediately asked "how did she do that?", as if she had broken some rule which declared her not to be poor enough. What is poor enough to be poor? Should someone be destitute before they get benefits? I have a strong feeling this friend would think they should.
The second - perception of persecution - came from the fact that asylum should be given to people fleeing persecution. From reading posts on here and elsewhere (more elsewhere it must be said) people cannot comprehend that those currently fleeing Syria might be middle-class, educated and either have money or the ability to borrow it. Again, must refugees be destitute before they are given asylum?
You will probably realise that I don't believe you have to reach destitution in either case to fulfil either the criteria of the insurance pledge for benefits or the safety pledge nations have always made to the persecuted but it does appear that some do. Perhaps there is a convincing argument for this.