Final answer:
Herbert Spencer espoused the political ideology of Social Darwinism, which suggested that societal progress resulted from the survival of the fittest and discouraged assistance to the poor.
Step-by-step explanation:
The political ideology that Herbert Spencer espoused is known as Social Darwinism. Spencer, a British sociologist, believed that attempting to assist the poor was futile because their inferior traits, which he considered hereditary, would inevitably lead to their extinction. He opposed financial assistance for the poor, asserting that they were destined to fail in the competition of life and that only the inherently superior individuals should prevail. This belief system is a misapplication of Darwin's theory of evolution, suggesting that human societies function under the same natural selection processes observed in biological species.