It's possibly related to political culture - the laisse-faire ideology that affected us in the UK in the first half of the 19th century as the wealthy failed to comprehend the massive effects of the Industrial Revolution was exported to the US just as the Settlers were heading West and trying to make a living in very hostile conditions. As a result, their politics have never really developed from that point; too many Americans think it's still the 1840s and all their problems can be solved with firearms and hard work.
While Europe understood in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that industrialisation, the flow of people from rural areas to the cities and their consequent reliance upon rented housing and pay meant that the old certainties that those who lived in poverty were almost certainly in that situation as a result of their own failings were no longer applicable, which led to such legislation as the Public Health Act of 1875 and the State Pension in the early 20th century, the United States still holds that idea to be true. Of course, they also have been told that anyone can become vastly wealthy if only they work hard enough (a demonstrable load of guff as someone still has to collect the rubbish and clean the streets, and printing enough money to pay them a huge salary would lead to rampant inflation), so their love of the wealthy and hatred of those in poverty is understandable if regrettable.