As might be expected, especially in this period, according to Italians the most racist country in the world is the United States of America . 77% of respondents think the US is a racist country. The beautiful country, in the eyes of its own inhabitants, ends up in the top six most racist countries, just behind Germany, Austria, Russia and Turkey. The 47% of Italians think that Italy is racist . Spain and Portugal are instead at the top of the ranking of the most tolerant countries , considered to be little or not at all racist, respectively, by 70% and 65% of the respondents.

Focusing on Italy and the different types of discrimination present on the national territory, racism (together with the prejudices related to the Italian regions of origin) is the second most widespread form of discrimination. The 27% of Italians believe that in our country there are many forms of discrimination or bias-related sexual all'orientamente , since grows to 74% if we include those who think that there are "enough" discrimination in this area.

However, racism and intolerance towards the LGBT world are not the only forms of intolerance identified by the interviewees. About one in five people say that discrimination related to religious orientation and social class are also very present .

It is interesting to note that only 16% think that gender discrimination is very present in Italy (since it reaches 21% among women, not falling within the first three types of intolerance according to the opinion of the female gender).

Young people , under 25, turn out to be much more sensitive to all types of discrimination , showing significantly higher values in almost all areas, in particular on sexual orientation (very present in Italy according to 47% of them against an average national 27%), racism (44% vs. 25%), the region of origin (35% vs. 23%) and religious orientation (36% vs. 20%).

(YouGov)

August 26, 2020

Source: https://it.yougov.com/news/2020/08/26/razzismo-e-discriminazioni-nel-bel-paese/

652-653-43-32/Country Profile: Italy

ITALY3

SUMMARY OF POLLS

ASIA

(India)

More than half of urban online Indians shopped from Amazon and Flipkart’s recent sales

New YouGov survey, combined with BrandIndex daily data shows intent to purchase online is steadily improving since May, but shopping for essentials continues to be a priority. COVID-19 has changed the way the world functions and this has even reflected in the buying behavior of consumers. With the pandemic limiting brick-and-mortar retail, online shopping is experiencing significant growth. (YouGov)

August 27, 2020

MENA

(KSA)

A vast majority of public in Saudi Arabia claim the new VAT rate has affected their finances

Residents claim to have reduced their spending in major categories recently due to the threefold increase in tax. With the new Value Added Tax coming into effect in Saudi Arabia recently, YouGov’s latest survey reveals nine in ten (91%) residents claim to be financially affected by the increased tax rate in the country. Out of these, 61% said they have been affected severely, while 29% felt a minor impact of this move on their finances. (YouGov)

August 31, 2020

(UAE)
UAE residents hesitant to travel due to Coronavirus, but likely to do so if the trip in incentivized

The survey shows residents are more likely to travel domestically than overseas in the near future. YouGov’s new survey reveals half of UAE residents (49%) are willing to travel domestically (in a separate emirate for a duration of more than 2 days) sometime within this year, while only 3 in 10 (29%) are looking to travel internationally (for any number of days) in the remaining months of 2020. (YouGov)

August 21, 2020

AFRICA

(Nigeria)

NIGERIAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM PERCEPTION POLL RESULT

A new public opinion poll conducted by NOIPolls reveals that most Nigerians (88 percent) consider corruption to be prevalent in the Nigerian Judicial system, with only 33 percent disclosing they repose any level of confidence in the Nigerian Judicial system at all. This is coming after some action has been seen to be taken in sanitizing the judiciary such as; the suspension of the previous Chief Justice of Nigeria on allegations of corruption, and the arrest of two Supreme Court judges over allegations of corruption. In both examples, the actors voluntarily stepped aside from their roles. (NOI Polls)

August 25, 2020

(Mali)

With a frequent lack of drinking water and sanitation services, Malians feel dissatisfied with the government's performance in this area

According to the recent Afrobarometer survey in Mali, four in 10 households lack drinking water at least a few times, and most citizens disapprove of the government's performance in providing water and sanitation services. Half of Malians - and even more in rural areas - have neither the tap nor the public fountain as a source of drinking water, but obtain their supplies through protected or unprotected wells, surface water, and 'other. (Afrobarometer)

August 24, 2020

(Ethiopia)

Ethiopians embrace federalism but are split over whether it should be ethnic or geographic, Afrobarometer survey shows

A majority of Ethiopians view federalism with independent regional governments as the best form of government for the country, a new Afrobarometer survey shows. But citizens are evenly divided as to whether Ethiopia’s federalism should continue to be based on regions defined by ethnicity or should change to a system based on geographic features of the country. (Afrobarometer)

August 25, 2020

EUROPE

(Germany)

Which breweries succeeded in marketing during the corona crisis

On behalf of the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking, YouGov collected figures in spring on the alcohol consumption changed by Corona. 19 percent of Germans stated that they drink less alcohol or none at all. Many wanted to maintain this even if the corona restrictions were relaxed again. The industry cannot therefore rely on sales to automatically return to the previous level. Even if there are more opportunities to drink beer again. (YouGov)

August 31, 2020

(Italy)

Racism and discrimination in the beautiful country

At a time when the world is experiencing turbulent moments and major protests in favor of the rights of ethnic minorities, we asked Italians what they thought of racism in the world and various types of discrimination and prejudice in Italy. As might be expected, especially in this period, according to Italians the most racist country in the world is the United States of America . 77% of respondents think the US is a racist country. (YouGov)

August 26, 2020

(France)

The new Evian bottle without label: what impact for the brand?

Evian, the water brand of the Danone group, launched on July 8, 2020 a new label-free bottle 100% made from recycled material and 100% recyclable. Created by Studio Jean-Marc Gady, this bottle marks a new key step in the brand's ambition to become 100% circular in 2025. (YouGov)

August 26, 2020

(UK)

Vegans and meat eaters: how do they differ?

YouGov Profiles reveals that vegans and vegetarians are more likely to prefer exotic teas than meat-eaters. Over half (56%) of those on a carnivorous diet say they drink classic English breakfast tea, compared to just 46% of those on a meat-free diet. The biggest difference between the groups, however, is herbal teas - which 29% of vegans and vegetarians enjoy, compared to just 8% of meat-eaters. (YouGov)

August 18, 2020

(UK)

Can social media be a tool for charities in the post-COVID world?

Social media could offer charities a way to target those typically least likely to donate

While many non-essential shops and services begin to reopen, charities are continuing to struggle. New rules for keeping staff and customers safe mean charity shop donations have been become more difficult to process, not to mention new rules for social distancing that charity shops will need to implement. COVID-19 has also robbed charities of many of its traditional fundraisers such as the London Marathon, and other summer events are sure to suffer as well. (YouGov)

August 21, 2020

(UK)

How has COVID-19 affected the digital, media and content sector?

The COVID-19 pandemic has had obvious implications for public health and prosperity in the UK. But it has also had a dramatic impact on the digital, media, and technology sector. A new YouGov webinar examined this impact in some detail. Hosted by Russell Feldman – our head of Digital, Media, and Technology – the session focused on a new study about the pandemic’s impact on television, SVOD, broadband, music, communication, and other services used within the home: the first of its kind. The study looked at the impact of these services during the heart of lockdown in April and then measured how usage of these changed once restrictions started to lift in July. (YouGov)

August 21, 2020

(UK)

Who are the Brits who have sworn off fast fashion?

Fast fashion is a hard habit to kick. The allure of a quick, cheap, stylish purchase is too much for most Brits to pass up. But, nonetheless, some do; who are the adults who only buy clothes from sustainable sources? YouGov Profiles asked to what extent Britons agreed with the following statement: “I only buy clothes from sustainable brands”, and the results show that half of the public disagreed. A third (35%) say they tend to disagree, and another 15% definitely disagreeing – giving a total of 50% who disagreed to some extent. (YouGov)

August 25, 2020

(UK)

How do Britons view cryptocurrencies?

One in six (16%) believe cryptocurrencies are the future of online financial transactions, while just 4% have used them as a payment method. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are still a topic shrouded in mystery for the majority of the public, with three quarters (74%) saying they don’t understand the technology. This is hardly surprising, given that many Brits struggle with common economic terms that have been around for centuries. (YouGov)

August 25, 2020

(UK)

COVID crisis: who’s been hardest hit, the impact on Britain and generational prospects

The UK public are more likely to say the COVID -19 crisis has affected men worse than women, people from ethnic minorities worse than white people, and the old worse than the young, according to a new study. New research, by King’s College London and Ipsos MORI, also finds little recognition among the public that their own generation’s prospects, or those of today’s youth, are at risk because of the crisis, while the public are relatively split on whether Britain will emerge stronger or weaker from the pandemic. (Ipsos MORI)

August 24, 2020

(UK)

Majority of those working from home are not finding working from home challenging, but many miss their co-workers and technology

While most of those working from home are not struggling, the lack of space, colleagues and technology has been noticed. Over a third of those currently employed are now working from home, including half of those who normally worked in an office before lockdown. In a new survey by Ipsos MORI, 6 in 10 (59%) of those now working mainly from home say it is not a challenge, while 40% admit to struggling at least a fair amount. (Ipsos MORI)

August 24, 2020

NORTH AMERICA

(USA)

Key takeaways on Americans’ views of and experiences with dating and relationships

Dating has always come with challenges. But the advent of dating apps and other new technologies – as well as the #MeToo movement – presents a new set of norms and expectations for American singles looking for casual or committed relationships, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Some 15% of U.S. adults say they are single and looking for a committed relationship or casual dates. Among them, most say they are dissatisfied with their dating lives, according to the survey, which was conducted in October 2019 – before the coronavirus pandemic shook up the dating scene. Here are some additional key findings from the study. (PEW)

August 20, 2020

Black Americans have less confidence in scientists to act in the public interest

While views of scientists generally tilt positive, there’s a 14-point gap between the shares of White and Black adults who say they have a great deal of confidence in scientists (41% vs. 27%). And while most adults in both groups have at least a fair amount of confidence in scientists, Black adults are about twice as likely as White adults to say they have not too much or no confidence in scientists to act in the public interest (21% vs. 11%). U.S. Hispanics rate scientists about the same as White adults do, expressing more confidence in them than Black adults do. (PEW)

August 28, 2020

Trump and Biden supporters differ sharply on acknowledging the nation’s historical flaws

Supporters of Donald Trump and Joe Biden do not just disagree over major national issues and the country’s direction. They also differ over the factors behind U.S. success and the merits of acknowledging the nation’s historical flaws. A large majority of registered voters (71%) say that “it makes the U.S. stronger when we acknowledge the country’s historical flaws.” About three-in-ten voters (28%) say “the U.S. may not have been perfect, but focusing on its historical flaws makes the country weaker.” (PEW)

August 25, 2020

Public confidence in scientists has remained stable for decades

Recent surveys by Pew Research Center and other organizations have shown public divides over science-related issues such as climate change and food science. But public confidence in the scientific community as a whole has remained stable for decades, according to data collected by NORC, an independent research organization at the University of Chicago. (PEW)

August 25, 2020

More in U.S. Believe Protest Actions Can Aid Black Adults

U.S. adults are more likely today than three decades ago to view several forms of protest as potentially helpful for improving the situation of Black Americans. Since Gallup last polled on this subject in 1988, there have been meaningful increases in the percentages of Americans saying that nonviolent protest, violent protest and economic boycotts, in particular, can help. Opinions on the effectiveness of legal action are little changed. Americans are still most likely to see nonviolent protest and legal action as being helpful, and least likely to say violent protest is. (Gallup USA)

August 26, 2020

Satisfaction Among Americans Remains at Nine-Year Low

Americans' satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. remains at the nine-year low recorded in July, with 13% feeling satisfied. This reading comes as the country continues to reel from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Americans' satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. has fluctuated greatly this year. In February, with the economy still strong and President Donald Trump acquitted on impeachment charges, Americans' satisfaction with how things were going in the country was relatively high at 45% -- a level not seen since 2005. (Gallup USA)

August 21, 2020

Public Reengages With Election After Early Pandemic Dip

With the presidential election campaign intensifying and the pandemic heading into its sixth month, more Americans are thinking about the election than did so in April. A higher percentage now than at the start of the pandemic also feel enthusiastic about voting. At the same time, the political contours of Americans' connection to the campaign haven't changed. Today, as from January through April, Republicans and Democrats are paying comparable attention, while Republicans hold the edge on enthusiasm about voting. (Gallup USA)

August 18, 2020

Parents' and Students' Thoughts on Support Needed This Fall

As the 2020-2021 school year begins, millions of students across the nation are going back to school virtually, including those in the vast majority of the nation's largest school districts. While the pandemic means decisions are changing rapidly, less than half of all schools in the U.S. are currently planning to return to fully in-person learning this fall. (Gallup USA)

August 27, 2020

More Americans say they are regularly wearing masks in stores and other businesses

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, a growing share of Americans say they are regularly wearing a mask or face covering in stores and other businesses. More than eight-in-ten U.S. adults (85%) say they have done so all or most of the time over the past month, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Aug. 3 to 16. When asked the same question in early June, 65% of Americans said they had been regularly wearing masks. (PEW)

August 27, 2020

AUSTRALIA

It’s official: Internet is Australia’s main source of news; TV remains most trusted

New research from Roy Morgan reveals the internet has overtaken TV as Australia’s main source of news over the last two years. Over 12.7 million Australians (60.8%) now say the internet is a main source of news, up 1.4 million since 2018, including nearly 7.9 million Australians (37.7%) specifically nominating Social Media. The number of Australians who say TV is their main source of news has dipped 1 million over the last two years to 12.4 million or 59.4%. However, TV is still regarded as the most trusted source of news nominated by nearly 7 million Australians (33.4%) – ahead of any other forms of traditional or digital media. (Roy Morgan)

August 21, 2020

Two-thirds of working Australians have had their employment impacted by COVID-19 – Victoria, NSW & Tasmania hardest hit

New research from Roy Morgan into the impact of COVID-19 on Australia’s employment market shows two-thirds of working Australians (67%) have had ‘a change to their employment’ due to the pandemic. Interviewing was conducted throughput July 2020 with a nationally representative cross-section of 3,863 working Australians using a combination of telephone and online interviews (multi-mode). (Roy Morgan)

August 26, 2020

MULTICOUNTRY STUDIES

Western public wary of many countries’ COVID figures

China’s unfortunate status as the origin of the coronavirus outbreak seems to have cemented an idea in the minds of people in the West that the country has been ravaged by the disease, the results of new YouGov surveys in Europe and the US show. Compared to many other countries, China has not seen that many cases, especially when accounting for the size of its population. As of 6 August only 88,000 cases had been recorded in the country, compared to 4.82 million in the US, 2.86 million in Brazil, 1.96 million in India and 307,000 in the UK. (YouGov)

August 24, 2020

Females' Access to Health Services

This survey for Marie Stopes explored public perceptions on the availability of female health services before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in three countries – the UK, India and South Africa. The survey also explored what barriers females experienced when they tried to access contraceptive or abortion services during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Ipsos MORI)

August 21, 2020

Vehicle owners continue to show interest in self-driving technology despite COVID-19

A global Ipsos study reveals new vehicle owners desire for autonomous functionality in their next vehicle in Europe’s top five markets, US, China and Brazil. As we move into the second half to the year, there are signals of a ‘new normal’ appearing. Many employers have encouraged their staff to work from home if possible, reducing the need to commute daily to an office. However, vehicle owners still have an interest in the latest technology and are willing to try it. (Ipsos MORI)

August 20, 2020

ASIA

652-653-43-01/Poll

More than half of urban online Indians shopped from Amazon and Flipkart’s recent sales

New YouGov survey, combined with BrandIndex daily data shows intent to purchase online is steadily improving since May, but shopping for essentials continues to be a priority

COVID-19 has changed the way the world functions and this has even reflected in the buying behavior of consumers. With the pandemic limiting brick-and-mortar retail, online shopping is experiencing significant growth.

In August, leading e-commerce players, Amazon and Flipkart, unveiled their online shopping bonanza with the Prime Day sale and Freedom sale, respectively. The media reports suggest these sales proved largely successful for both Amazon and Flipkart and brightened things up for local sellers attached to these platforms.

Data from YouGov BrandIndex, our daily tracking tool, shows after suffering a setback during the lockdown, Purchase Intent (whether one would purchase from a brand) for both Amazon and Flipkart picked up by the end of May with the government relaxing delivery restrictions in lockdown 4.0 (announced on May 17th). The scores continued rising throughout June and July and peaked in August around the sale time.

PI_OF_AMAZON_FLIPKART_RISE_AFTER_LOCKDOWN4

Keeping May-end as the baseline, we see the overall Purchase Intent for Amazon increased from 6.7 to 9.6 by the sale period (7th August). Flipkart noted a similar movement in its score, increasing from 2.2 to 3.4 within this period. However, Amazon maintains the lead in this space.

In addition to this, Amazon and Flipkart will be pleased to know that their advertising efforts were a success, with their Ad Awareness (whether someone has seen an ad for the brand in the past two weeks) increasing following the launch of the recent campaigns.

Amazon India started talking about its Prime day sale through social media posts around July-end and simultaneously collaborated with 14 stand-up comedians to keep customers engaged during the sale. In addition to this, the brand unveiled a campaign “Inn Dibbon mein kya hai” on July 31^st, highlighting the resilience demonstrated by customers in adapting to a new way of life amidst Coronavirus. The continuous efforts by Amazon seem to have paid off as YouGov’s BrandIndex data shows the brand’s Ad Awareness (whether one has seen an advertisement from the brand in the past 2 weeks) has risen from 50.6 on 1^st July to 55.0 on 8^th August 2020.

ADawareness_flipkart_amazon_rise_mayend

For the same period, Flipkart also recorded a rise in its Ad Awareness score, increasing from 39.9 to 42.6. This suggests that not only were these advertisements well received by people, they could have also influenced their intent to purchase from these brands.

YouGov’s latest Omnibus adds further insights to the story and reveals more than half (53%) of urban Indians said they shopped online during these recent sales hosted by Amazon and Flipkart. Millennials (61%) were more likely to say this than Gen X (54%) and Gen Z (44%) respondents.

When asked which category of products they shopped from during the sale, grocery and household supplies (46%) emerged as the top choice, followed by fashion & accessories (42%) and beauty and personal care products (38%). Some spent on mobiles & gadgets (37%), kitchen & home décor (33%), and electronics & home appliances (24%). It appears that shopping for necessary or essential items continues to be a priority, and comparatively spending on big-ticket or leisure items is less preferred during this time.

indians_buy_essentialsproducts_in_recent_sales

This is even evident from the amount of money spent shopping online. During the recent sales, nearly half (46%) spent up to INR 5000 on their shopping, and 41% spent between INR 5001-20,000 on their purchases. Very few (13%) claimed to splurge more than INR 20,000 on buying big-ticket items.

Talking about future sales, a vast majority of respondents (75%) said they are likely to buy during the upcoming festive and year-end sales. Although the intent is there, brands need to ensure people not only come online but increase purchases across categories. YouGov BrandIndex data will continue to track the intention to purchase and monitor the impact of recent events on consumers’ brand perception and purchase behavior.

(YouGov)

August 27, 2020

Source: https://in.yougov.com/en-hi/news/2020/08/27/more-half-urban-online-indians-shopped-amazon-and-/

MENA

652-653-43-02/Poll

A vast majority of public in Saudi Arabia claim the new VAT rate has affected their finances

Residents claim to have reduced their spending in major categories recently due to the threefold increase in tax

With the new Value Added Tax coming into effect in Saudi Arabia recently, YouGov’s latest survey reveals nine in ten (91%) residents claim to be financially affected by the increased tax rate in the country. Out of these, 61% said they have been affected severely, while 29% felt a minor impact of this move on their finances.

Working residents seem to be more strongly influenced by the new tax rate than the non-working population (95% vs 86%). Similarly, respondents within the income bracket of SAR 5,001- 20,000 were more likely to say the increase has affected them (at 96%) than households belonging to other income groups.

KSA_residents-most-affected-by-increased-tax-rates

When specifically asked about the implications of the new VAT rate on their business, 77% of respondents working in senior management positions reported a negative impact. Only 16% felt no impact of the tax rise, while a very small number (7%) said it had a positive effect on their business.

Not only their personal monetary situation, the KSA public foresees an adverse effect on the country’s financial position as well, with half (50%) stating the tax jump might negatively affect the economy. On the other hand, just one-in-five (22%) are hopeful it might have a ‘very or somewhat’ positive impact on the country’s economy.

In order to adjust to the new tax regime, around half (51%) of the respondents have limited their purchases to only those items that are necessary, while 45% have started buying cheaper alternatives. Some (37%) have postponed their plans to purchase certain goods while others intend to buy these items through international e-commerce sites (19%) or during their travel trips abroad (11%).

At an overall level, residents seem to have reduced their spending in all the listed categories in the past few days because of the increased VAT. The main areas where people have cut down their expenses are clothing (56%), dining out (51%), electronics (50%) and luxury items (49%). Nearly half (48%) claim to have reduced their overall personal expenditure.

reductions_in_spends_of_clothing

Many have cut back expenses on entertainment (42%) and transport (41%), but spends on groceries have witnessed the least reduction comparatively (37%). It appears residents are giving more preference to essential items than leisure or luxury products, and therefore spending has changed to suit their current needs.

In terms of understanding the new VAT implementation, 45% of Saudi residents said it was easy for them to understand it, while a small proportion (20%) said it was difficult to comprehend.

A similar proportion of respondents claim to understand its impact on products/ services- with 43% finding it easy and 19% saying it was difficult to comprehend. Only 39% claim understanding of the new VAT’s implication on businesses was easy, while 20% found it difficult.

(YouGov)

August 31, 2020

Source: https://mena.yougov.com/en/news/2020/09/01/vast-majority-public-saudi-arabia-claim-new-vat-ra/

652-653-43-03/Poll

UAE residents hesitant to travel due to Coronavirus, but likely to do so if the trip in incentivised

The survey shows residents are more likely to travel domestically than overseas in the near future

YouGov’s new survey reveals half of UAE residents (49%) are willing to travel domestically (in a separate emirate for a duration of more than 2 days) sometime within this year, while only 3 in 10 (29%) are looking to travel internationally (for any number of days) in the remaining months of 2020.

UAE-residents-are-more-likely-to-travel-domestically

Households earning between AED 20,001- 40,000 are most likely to take a domestic trip in the coming months, with 67% of them saying this.

The data also show the likelihood of taking international trips is higher next year than now- with half (49%) the surveyed public saying they are likely to travel internationally some time in 2021.

Apart from this, 31% are not planning to holiday domestically, while 22% do not intend to travel overseas either now or in the next year.

Among those who are looking to travel domestically or internationally in 2020, most will be travelling to visit family (69%), followed by a holiday (54%). Only one in six (17%) will be taking a trip for business and fewer (12%) will be moving around to be in a much safer environment.

Females were more likely than men to say they would be travelling for a holiday (63% vs 50%). Similarly, respondents aged above 35 were more likely than their younger counterparts to anticipate traveling for a holiday.

Among those who are not likely to travel in 2020, fear of Covid-19 emerged as the biggest reason for not wanting to do so (as said by 50%). Following this, concerns for the safety of family, kids and friends (40%), lack of confidence in the safety measures of the destination country (33%), costly air tickets (31%) and not being able to afford a trip currently (31%) are some of the other reasons for unwillingness to travel this year.

UAE-RESIDENTS-HESITANT-TOTRAVEL-DUE-TO-CORONA

The pandemic has had a huge impact on the tourism industry and in order to encourage tourists to engage in international travel, the governments of many countries are offering special offers and discounts to entice travellers. When asked how likely are they to travel if a destination country incentivised travel, 73% respondents said they are very or somewhat likely to do so if some benefits are offered- such as covering partial flight costs or health insurance or if the entire trip or a part of is paid for by the destination country in some form. Respondents within the income bracket of AED 20,001- 40,000 are most likely to respond to these offers- with 83% saying this.

(YouGov)

August 21, 2020

Source: https://mena.yougov.com/en/news/2020/08/21/uae-residents-hesitant-travel-due-coronavirus-like/

AFRICA

652-653-43-04/Poll

NIGERIAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM PERCEPTION POLL RESULT

A new public opinion poll conducted by NOIPolls reveals that most Nigerians (88 percent) consider corruption to be prevalent in the Nigerian Judicial system, with only 33 percent (i.e. 4 percent ‘very confident’ + 29 percent ‘confident’) disclosing they repose any level of confidence in the Nigerian Judicial system at all. This is coming after some action has been seen to be taken in sanitizing the judiciary such as; the suspension of the previous Chief Justice of Nigeria[1] on allegations of corruption, and the arrest of two Supreme Court judges over allegations of corruption[2]. In both examples, the actors voluntarily stepped aside from their roles.

The poll further revealed that only a sliver of the population (18 percent) had had direct experience or knew someone who had experience with the judicial system in the past one year. However, about two-thirds (63 percent) of this population described their experience with the judicial system as being negative, citing reasons such as ‘bribe was demanded’, ‘bias in judgment’, ‘justice was sold for money’ and ‘delay proceedings and regular adjournment’ as some of the top factors why their experience was negative.

On the whole, Nigerians were asked to rate the judicial system on a scale of 1-10 where 1 is very poor and 10 is excellent. A subpar nationwide score of 4.25 was ascribed to the Nigerian Judicial system. Nigerians were also asked their expectations of the judicial system and some of the top responses were; ‘Fear of God and sincerity to the oath of office’ (32 percent), ‘Stop giving pardons to corrupt politicians’ (20 percent), ‘Fair judgement for all citizens’ and ‘Overhaul and grant autonomy to the Nigerian Judicial system’ (at 15 percent each), a ‘corrupt-free judicial system’ (13 percent) among others. Therefore, addressing these pervasive concerns will garner public support and restore the eroding confidence in the judicial system. These are some of the key highlights from the Nigerian Judicial System poll conducted in the week commencing August, 10th 2020.

Survey Background

As the fight against corruption in the country rages on, there are allegations purported that the Judiciary, which is a microcosm of the larger society, is replete with corruption. The Judiciary, one of the three arms of government, is tasked with providing an interpretation of the law, determining the constitutionality of the law, and applying it to individual cases. As a critical ally in the fight against corruption, the judicial system is supposed to try cases of corruption and if found guilty, convict them. But some would argue, how are these convictions to be secured if the appointed judges to secure these convictions are not the very best the country can offer? Part of the challenge stems from the fact that all superior court judges in Nigeria are appointed following the recommendation of the National Judicial Council. In a petition earlier this year, some Nigerian lawyers asked President Buhari to reject 33 candidates recommended to him by the National Judicial Council (NJC) for appointment as High Court judges of the Federal Capital Territory

on the grounds that they were not only “unqualified”, but were “cronies and affiliates” of top officials in the judiciary[3].

Furthermore, there are those who would argue that in the fight against corruption particularly within the judicial system, the authorities have lacked genuine desire to address the problem. They claim that on occasional cases where judges were penalized by the NJC, the penalties imposed on them were considered inadequate in most cases[4]. Other tactics employed in some public, high profile cases include unreasonable delay tactics accommodated by the courts that last in some cases as long as 14 years. In the interim of over a decade, so many things could have happened such as: the deaths of star witnesses, promotion of the judges, etc. The consequence is a systematic withdrawal of the cases, or in the best case (where the judge is promoted) starting the case de novo[5]. These and other factors contribute to negatively to the perception that the fight against corruption is not fair, as some are perceived to be possess the resources to avoid stiff penalties. Against this background, NOIPolls conducted this poll to measure Nigerians’ awareness of the function of the judicial system, as well as their perception of the judiciary.

SURVEY RESULTS

Awareness

About two-thirds (63 percent) of Nigerians acknowledged being aware of the functions of the judicial system in Nigeria. Interestingly, on a gender analysis, we find 71 percent of males and 55 percent of females claimed to be aware of the functions of the judicial system in Nigeria. This reveals a knowledge gap in our society as almost 1 in 2 (45 percent) females, and over a third (37 percent) of Nigerians in general are unaware of the functions of one of the three arms of government as vested in the Nigerian Constitution. The North-East region had the highest proportion of residents (52 percent) who were unaware of the functions of the Nigerian Judicial system, whereas the North-West had the least (25 percent). Analysis by age demographic revealed that older adult Nigerians tend to be increasingly aware of the functions of the judicial system, than younger adult Nigerians, revealing a gap in orientation.

Perception

As the country battles with embedded corruption, and the government wages an anti-corruption war, the judicial system was not considered immune to the widespread corruption in the country. The perceived level of corruption in the judicial system is high as 88 percent of Nigerians considered corruption in the judicial system to be prevalent (i.e. 42 percent prevalent + 48 percent very prevalent). These proportions were largely consistent across gender, geo-political zones, and age-groups.

Confidence in the Judicial System

Only about a third (33 percent) of Nigerians reposed any confidence at all in the Nigerian Judicial system, with only a sliver (4 percent) indicating a high level of confidence. The majority (67 percent) expressed that they were not confident in the Nigerian Judicial system (i.e. 36 percent ‘Not confident’ + 31 percent ‘Not at all confident’). This lack of confidence in the system may not be unconnected with the perceived level of corruption within the system, and based on previous rulings of publicly known cases.

Personal Experience

Less than 1 in 5 (18 percent) Nigerians have had any direct experience with the judicial system in the past one year. A larger proportion of males (23 percent) to females (13 percent) disclosed that they or someone they know has had an experience with the Nigerian Judicial system. Although this appears to be a small proportion at first glance, the time frame of the past one year only may account for small proportion.

Was it Positive or Negative?

Of the 18 percent who have had or know someone who has experienced the judicial system in the past year, 37 percent considered their experience to have been positive, whereas 63 percent considered their experience to have been negative. As most considered their experience to be negative, it goes to show why a majority of Nigerians do not repose much confidence in the judicial system.

Reasons

Respondents who disclosed they or someone they know had some experience with the judicial system, were further asked reasons why their experience was positive or negative. A considerable proportion of those who indicated their experience was negative disclosed it was because ‘bribe was demanded’ (30 percent), ‘bias in judgement’ (25 percent), ‘justice was sold for money’ (18 percent), ‘justice was denied’ (13 percent), and ‘delay in proceeding and regular adjournment’ (12 percent).

Of those who considered their experience positive, reasons include: ‘justice was achieved’ (53 percent), ‘fair hearing’ (21 percent), ‘verdict was well discharged’ (11 percent), ‘my case was addressed with transparency’ (9 percent), and ‘satisfied hearing and proceedings’ (6 percent).

Rating

All respondents were asked to rate the Nigerian Judicial system on a scale of 1-10, where 1 is very poor and 10 is excellent. The Nigerian Judicial system was rated a 4.25 which is below par. Females (4.33) rated the judicial system slightly higher than males (4.19), and the North-East residents rated the judicial system highest (5.01) amongst all geo-political zones, while the South-West rated it the least (3.48).

Expectations

Among the many expectations Nigerians have of the judicial system, some of the most prevalent were: ‘Fear of God and sincerity to the oath of office’ (32 percent), ‘Stop giving pardons to corrupt politicians’ (20 percent), ‘Fair judgement for all citizens’ and ‘Overhauling the Nigerian Judicial system and restoring its autonomy’ at 15 percent each among others. Other relevant expectations include; a ‘corrupt-free judicial system’ (13 percent), conducting ‘proper investigations’ (11 percent), ‘good remuneration’ (11 percent), ‘quick judicial proceeding’ (6 percent), ‘transparency’ (4 percent), ‘good interpretation of the law’ (3 percent), and integrity (3 percent).

In conclusion, two-thirds (67 percent) of Nigerians expressed a lack of confidence in the Nigerian Judicial system, and an even larger proportion (88 percent) considered corruption to be rife in the judicial system. When asked reasons for the negative experience they had, many respondents cited ‘bribe was demanded’, there was ‘bias in judgement’, ‘justice was sold’ and ‘delay in proceedings and regular adjournment’ among others. These negative experiences of some may possibly have influenced the general negative perceptions held by the majority of Nigerians about the judicial system. Therefore, more work needs to be done in restoring the faith of the general public in the judicial system.

Furthermore, about two-thirds (63 percent) of Nigerians disclosed that they were unaware of the function of the judicial system, revealing a huge awareness gap that can easily be filled with misinformation and rumours. The judicial system is a critically vital component in the fight against corruption, and must be considered credible enough if the fight against corruption is to be won.

Survey Methods

The poll was conducted in the week commencing August 10^th, 2020. It involved telephone interviews of a proportionate nationwide sample of 1,000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geo-political regions and 36 states and the FCT of the country. Interviews were conducted in 5 languages – Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Pidgin English, and English. With this sample size and selection, we are 95 percent confident that the results obtained are statistically precise within a margin of error of plus or minus 4.65 percent.

We recognize that the exclusive use of telephone polling has its limitation of excluding non-phone-owning Nigerians. Nonetheless, with the country’s tele density put over 100 percent by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), we consider our telephone polling approach appropriate. Also, given the rigorous scientific process of randomization and stratification applied, we are confident of the validity of our methodology and approach. NOIPolls Limited, No1 for country specific polling services in West Africa. We conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria. More information is available at www.noi-polls.com.

Disclaimer

This press release has been produced by NOIPolls Limited to provide information on all issues which form the subject matter of the document. Kindly note that while we are willing to share results from our polls with the general public, we only request that NOIPolls be acknowledged as author whenever and wherever our poll results are used, cited, or published.

NOIPolls hereby certifies that all the views expressed in this document accurately reflect its views of respondents surveyed for the poll, and background information is based on information from various sources that it believes are reliable; however, no representation is made that it is accurate or complete. Whilst reasonable care has been taken in preparing this document, no responsibility or liability is accepted for errors or fact or for any views expressed herein by NOIPolls for actions taken as a result of information provided in this report. Any ratings, forecasts, estimates, opinions, or views herein constitute a judgment as at the date of this document. If the date of this document is not current, the views and content may not reflect NOIPolls’ current findings and/or thinking.

(NOI Polls)

August 25, 2020

Source: https://noi-polls.com/nigerian-judicial-system-perception-poll-result/

652-653-43-05/Poll

With a frequent lack of drinking water and sanitation services, Malians feel dissatisfied with the government's performance in this area

Half of Malians - and even more in rural areas - have neither the tap nor the public fountain as a source of drinking water, but obtain their supplies through protected or unprotected wells, surface water, and 'other.

In addition, a significant portion of Malians face the lack of latrines, especially in rural areas and in the regions of Mopti, Kayes, and Timbuktu.

Faced with these challenges, two thirds of Malians believe that the performance of the government in the provision of water and sanitation services is "rather bad" or "very bad".

In the current health context of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, where one of the barrier measures is the washing of hands with soap and water, Afrobarometer data is entering the debate to build the decision.

(Afrobarometer)

August 24, 2020

Source: https://www.afrobarometer.org/press/en-manque-frequent-deau-potable-et-de-services-dassainissement-les-maliens-sestiment

652-653-43-06/Poll

Ethiopians embrace federalism but are split over whether it should be ethnic or geographic, Afrobarometer survey shows

A majority of Ethiopians view federalism with independent regional governments as the best form of government for the country, a new Afrobarometer survey shows.

But citizens are evenly divided as to whether Ethiopia’s federalism should continue to be based on regions defined by ethnicity or should change to a system based on geographic features of the country.

The fate of federalism has been intensely debated since the country launched a reform agenda two years ago. Both private and public media have been hosting debates by politicians, scholars, and civil society representatives on whether the country should maintain the ethnic/multinational federalism that has been in place since the federal Constitution was ratified in 1995, modify it, or shift to a unitary form of government.

(Afrobarometer)

August 25, 2020

Source: https://www.afrobarometer.org/press/ethiopians-embrace-federalism-are-split-over-whether-it-should-be-ethnic-or-geographic

EUROPE

652-653-43-07/Poll

Which breweries succeeded in marketing during the corona crisis

Corona has caused beer sales to decline. Many Germans now go to beer gardens with a good feeling again. How should the beer brands advertise them?

The jokes were not long in coming when a pandemic loomed over half a year ago, caused by a virus that bears the same name as a beer brand: Corona. An author of the website BoingBoing even speculated that Mexico's most popular beer brand could face a similar fate as Ayds, an appetite-suppressing chewy candy that consumers avoided during the AIDS crisis. But the Corona brand is doing well so far, like a look at the Mexican market with our international brand monitor YouGov BrandIndexshows. Here the brand has customer numbers that are within the usual limits. In the important US market, the BrandIndex showed below-average performance in the first half of the year, but currently just as many Americans are drinking Corona beer as in a normal summer.

For the big beer brands in Germany , the picture is ambivalent. If we look at how many consumers bought beer in the first eight months of this year, almost all of the 30 brands we recorded achieved similar values to the same period last year. That's the good news. But even if roughly the same number of people drink beer, the amount of beer they drink has decreased. The sales figures for beer in Germany, which have generally been falling for years, fell particularly sharply in the first half of 2020 due to unusual parties, closed pubs and canceled events: by 5.9 percent, as the Federal Statistical Office has calculated. Sales fell the most in April, with a decline of 17.3 percent compared to April 2019.

WHERE BEER ADVERTISING WORKS

So that even more top-quality beer does not have to be disposed of or converted into biogas - as has happened with millions of liters of beer in Australia - advertising measures are appropriate. In our target group segmentation tool YouGov Profiles, we can take a closer look at consumers who want to buy beer within the next 30 days, as stated in our survey. Of these consumers, 47 percent say they are receptive to television advertising. 25 percent perceive advertising in newspapers. Values that are much higher than in the general population. Large billboards and outdoor advertising in supermarkets are also noticed more frequently by potential beer customers.

PAULANER MORE POPULAR IN THE BEER GARDEN

Krombacher, among other things, proves that the target group can also be reached online. Among Germans who state that they register online advertising most strongly in social networks, 27 percent saw Krombacher advertising in July - an increase of 11 percentage points compared to June. And Paulaner was able to double its advertising perception in this target group between May and August.

At Paulaner, our data also shows a particular dependency on open beer gardens. Anyone who has visited a beer garden this year despite Corona indicates that they have bought Paulaner much more often than the average consumer.

Franziskaner and Erdinger are also exceptionally popular with beer garden visitors, while the best-selling beer brand, Krombacher, arouses just as much interest among beer garden visitors as the rest of the population.

The industry can legitimately hope that the remaining late summer days will be able to further boost beer consumption through reopened beer gardens. After all, every second respondent states that they feel comfortable when visiting a beer garden despite Corona. However, many people still avoid other occasions when they usually enjoy drinking a beer. Currently, only 28 percent of adults feel comfortable in pubs and bars, and even less at events such as football matches or concerts.

(YouGov)

August 31, 2020

Source: https://yougov.de/news/2020/08/31/welchen-brauereien-das-marketing-wahrend-der-coron/

652-653-43-08/Poll

Racism and discrimination in the beautiful country

(YouGov)

August 26, 2020

Source: https://it.yougov.com/news/2020/08/26/razzismo-e-discriminazioni-nel-bel-paese/

652-653-43-09/Poll

The new Evian bottle without label: what impact for the brand?

Perceived quality is improving

This new packaging - the result of more than 2 years of research and innovation - seems to have an impact on the perception of the quality of the brand: there is an increase of 5.9 points in this indicator after the launch of the new bottle.

Just like Intent to Purchase

The finding is similar for Intent to Purchase: the indicator increases significantly and gains 4.7 points after the bottle is launched.

Methodology :

BrandIndex: the real-time & continuous monitoring tool for brands and all the speeches dedicated to them. In France, more than 1,100 brands are assessed on a daily basis via our panel of around 350,000 respondents.

Quality: which brands in the universe [water, fruit juices and soft drinks] do you associate with good / bad quality? The score is expressed in% of Positive Quality -% of Negative Quality. For example 60% positive - 20% negative = +40. Quality is therefore a score that can vary from -100 to +100.

Purchase Intent: If you were to purchase brands from the universe [waters, juices and soft drinks], which of the following would you consider? (%)

(YouGov)

August 26, 2020

Source: https://fr.yougov.com/news/2020/08/26/la-nouvelle-bouteille-evian-sans-etiquette/

652-653-43-10/Poll

Vegans and meat eaters: how do they differ?

Our choice of food can also reveal other habits. For instance, veggies are all about a nice cup of tea, but meat-eaters prefer coffee

Looking beyond the one obvious difference between vegans and vegetarians compared to those who eat meat, are they really that different when it comes to food habits?

Tea, or coffee?

The two groups also disagree over infused teas, such as jasmine green tea, which vegans and vegetarians are again bigger fans of (23%) than meat-eaters (7%).

However, the disagreements between the groups are not limited to tea. When it comes to coffee vegans and vegetarians are more likely to be fans of frappuccinos (21%) than meat-eaters (9%). While those on a carnivorous diet are more likely to prefer a caffé latte (32%) than vegans and vegetarians (26%).

What about snacks?

As well as their hot drinks of choice, the groups also snack differently. When asked when they snack, over half of both groups say during movies, but meat-eaters (64%) are more likely to do so than vegans and vegetarians (57%).

The biggest difference between the groups comes from snacking and exercise, with 29% of vegans and vegetarians snacking before and after working out, compared to 12% of meat-eaters.

Who is more likely to eat out?

Tea, coffee, and snacks are one thing, but how about eating out? YouGov Profiles shows us that it is vegans and vegetarians who are most likely to be dining out recently, even at restaurants not specialising in vegan dishes.

For example, despite being famed for its chicken, 12% of vegans and vegetarians have eaten Nando’s in the last month, compared to 4% of meat-eaters.

Another one in ten (10%) vegans and vegetarians have eaten at Pizza Express, compared to 2% of meat-eaters, and 8% on a plant-based diet have visited a Harvesters compared to 3% of meat-eaters.

(YouGov)

August 18, 2020

Source: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/food/articles-reports/2020/08/18/vegans-and-meat-eaters-how-do-they-differ

652-653-43-11/Poll

Can social media be a tool for charities in the post-COVID world?

Social media could offer charities a way to target those typically least likely to donate

In a recent article YouGov took a brief look at the future of fundraising and how social media challenges had proved popular during lockdown – but how can social media platforms help directly drive donations?

YouGov asked Britons who donate to charity whether the ability to donate through a social media platform would make them more or less likely to donate. Overall, approaching a fifth (19%) of Brits who donate to charity said the feature would make them more likely to do so, the majority (63%) said it would make no difference on their decision to donate.

However, as we discussed previously, young adults are the least likely to donate to charity, according to YouGov Profiles data, but are most likely to use social media. Breaking this data down by age shows that double the amount of adults aged 18 to 24 (39%) compared to the general population would be more likely to donate to charity if they could do so directly through a social media platform.

While it is worth noting that social media usage among 19 to 24 year olds is higher, it is not overwhelmingly so. For example, 80% of this age group says they are members of Facebook, compared to 71% of those aged over 55.

Do users trust platforms to make donations?

One issue that arises from making such heavy use of a third party to gather donations is trust, and whether users think that social media platforms will pass on 100% of the donation they make to the charity it is meant for.

Internet savvy Britons are divided on the issue, with 42% trusting social media platforms not to take a cut of donations they make, compared to 40% who do not trust them at all.

Once again those aged 18 to 24 stand out from the other age brackets as the most trusting of social platforms (64%) with only 23% of this group not trusting platforms to pass on their donations.

Among the older generations, only three in ten (31%) trust platforms to pass on all of the donations people make, with 50% no trust the platforms to do so at all.

What prompts social media users to donate?

As part of this research, YouGov also asked Brits how different types of social media posts would affect their donation habits, which reinforces that social media could be a useful tool for charities to target a younger audience.

Overall, 18% of adults who donate to charity would be more likely to do so after seeing posts from charities on social media, compared to 41% who would be more likely to give if they saw friends or family asking for donations.

Of all the age brackets, those aged 18 to 24 are the most likely to respond positively to seeing both posts from charities and posts from friends raising funds – 54% of this group said they would be more likely to donate to a cause if they saw a friend or relative on social media asking for donations. This is compared to three in ten (30%) of the over 55’s who say the same.

In summary, this research follows up and supports our findings in June that younger people can be effectively targeted by charities using social media. That research showed that 31% of British adults aged 18 to 24 who use social media took part in a social media fundraiser – further implying that generating donation challenges or other viral campaigns which get users to encourage others to donate could be an effective way to reach younger audiences.

(YouGov)

August 21, 2020

Source: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/technology/articles-reports/2020/08/21/can-social-media-be-tool-charities-post-covid-worl

652-653-43-12/Poll

How has COVID-19 affected the digital, media and content sector?

The COVID-19 pandemic has had obvious implications for public health and prosperity in the UK. But it has also had a dramatic impact on the digital, media, and technology sector.

A new YouGov webinar examined this impact in some detail. Hosted by Russell Feldman – our head of Digital, Media, and Technology – the session focused on a new study about the pandemic’s impact on television, SVOD, broadband, music, communication, and other services used within the home: the first of its kind. The study looked at the impact of these services during the heart of lockdown in April and then measured how usage of these changed once restrictions started to lift in July.

Here’s some of what the webinar covered.

The connected home

The session revealed some substantial growth in smart home devices between the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2020: over the course of this period, uptake more than doubled to reach 34% - a third of all UK households, amounting to 9.5 million homes.

As for specific devices, over a quarter (27%) of UK households had a smart speaker in the first half of 2020 – compared to 10% in the first half of 2018 – and over the same period, smart security adoption doubled from 3% to 6% and smart lighting rose from 4% to 7%. Adoption of smart domestic appliances hit 6% in H1 2020.

Lockdown has seen a dip in internet performance

The internet is the cornerstone of any connected home, and our data showed that 87% of UK consumers had a home broadband connection and the same percentage (87%) had a mobile internet connection. Two-thirds (63%) still have a landline: a prerequisite for broadband in some ISP’s packages.

And people are broadly happy with their internet: home broadband, mobile data, and 5G all scored between 7 and 8 across a number of key metrics using a 10 point scale (10 being excellent, 1 being very poor). But over the course of lockdown, broadband performance has deteriorated somewhat: Using those rating 8,9,or 10 on that satisfaction scale, reliability went from 71% to 65%, the percentage of those who said they had no difficulty staying connected went from 71% to 67%, and the number experiencing good download speeds dropped from 60% to 57%.

Overall, a third (36%) of consumers said they were experiencing buffering issues and that their download speeds (33%) were worse than before lockdown, while a quarter (26%) said their connection was worse in general.

Subscriptions during lockdown

The webinar moved on to discuss the subscription ecosystem during the pandemic. Our data showed that the average consumer had 2.2. service subscriptions in the middle of lockdown – with under 35s holding more subscriptions than average in April (2.47 vs. 2.11).

The findings also show that three quarters (75%) had a video streaming subscription in April, half (53%) subscribed to pay TV,48% had a music/audio streaming service , 15% signed up to an online gaming service such as PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live, 12% subscribed to a sports channel, and one in nine (11%) subscribed to news media in some form or another.

Of this group, consumers under 35 were less likely to have Pay TV services (36% vs. 60% of the wider public) but were more likely to sign up to streaming video, music/audio, or online gaming services.

By July the average number of subscriptions tapered off a little from its April levels, and the 18-34 year old demographic were substantially responsible: under-35s cut their average number of subscriptions from 2.45 to 2.35, which helped bring the overall average down from 2.20 to 2.11.

The services this group were most likely to unsubscribe from were Pay TV, which declined from 36% to 30%, and gaming – which fell from 28% to 25%.

That said, it certainly wasn’t bad news for the gaming industry on the whole: 36% said they had bought more games in April, rising to four in ten (39%) by July.

Zoom and Houseparty were lockdown’s big winners

The session also dove into user growth among certain platforms and services. WhatsApp adoption grew by three percentage points between April and July (73% - 76%), while Skype adoption rose by five (26% - 31%). Google Drive uptake – a tool widely believed to be conducive to remote working – increased from 44% to 46%.

But the big winners were undoubtedly Zoom – the videoconferencing software – and HouseParty. The former saw adoption increase more than fivefold between April and July, rising from 5% to 28%, while the latter saw uptake rise from 1% to 10%.

More Brits watched news, moves, and TV over lockdown

Our data indicated that media consumption rose across a range of formats during lockdown – perhaps unsurprisingly, given how much time people have been spending indoors. The webinar showed that consumers are making more efforts to get informed: in April, half of consumers said they watched more news (54%), while a fifth (20%) said they watched more documentaries. One in ten said they watched more educational programming (9%) and more science TV shows (8%). Appetite for news decreased significantly by July: those who said they watched more news fell from 54% to 41%.

What’s more, while more people were watching news, fewer people said they trust it. The percentage of UK consumers who said they couldn’t rely on news rose from 35% to 46% over lockdown. Seven in ten (72%) agreed that they were “fed up” with news programming and over half (55%) said it was too negative.

In terms of entertainment, nearly four in ten (37%) said they’d watched more films in April, and a fifth said they’d watched more drama (22%). And with lockdown darkening the nation’s mood somewhat, it may beunderstandable why 13% of Brits watched more comedy and 7% watched more kids programming. A little light entertainment can go a long way.

(YouGov)

August 21, 2020

Source: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/media/articles-reports/2020/08/21/how-has-covid-19-affected-digital-media-and-conten

652-653-43-13/Poll

Who are the Brits who have sworn off fast fashion?

YouGov Profiles reveals which of us has given up fast fashion for sustainable options, or even second-hand

YouGov Profiles asked to what extent Britons agreed with the following statement: “I only buy clothes from sustainable brands”, and the results show that half of the public disagreed. A third (35%) say they tend to disagree, and another 15% definitely disagreeing – giving a total of 50% who disagreed to some extent.

However, while 18% of the general population agreed to some extent with the statement, just 4% of Brits completely agreed - and it’s these 4% we are interested in here.

Diving into the demographics shows that this group is evenly split along gender lines, with 52% being male and 48% female.

Among the men, they are most likely to be younger or middle-aged, with 40% of the group overall being 44 or under. Women of the same age range make up 29% of the group. Among the older age groups, such as those aged over 55, 12% are women, compared to 4% of men.

These Brits buying sustainable clothes have distinctly differing opinions on retail compared to the general population. Some 83% agree that fashion brands should consider addressing social issues, compared to 55% of the general population.

Over two thirds (67%) of Brits buying from sustainable brands also agree that they only buy products from companies with ethics and values matching their own, compared to 38% of the general population.

Perhaps most surprising is that these sustainability-conscious Brits are also more likely to prefer premium goods (58% compared to 26% of general public) and have expensive tastes (54% compared to 24% of the general public).

But the biggest difference between the two groups is that Brits focused on buying from sustainable brands are also much more likely to be fans of picking up a second hand bargain. Nearly three quarters (73%) of Brits who only buy sustainable fashion also say they prefer to buy second-hand items than new. This is compared to less than a third (29%) of the general population.

Only 21% of Brits buying sustainable fashion say they would disagree that they prefer buying second-hand, roughly the same as the general population (22%).

(YouGov)

August 25, 2020

Source: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/consumer/articles-reports/2020/08/25/brits-no-fast-fashion-sustainable-clothes

652-653-43-14/Poll

How do Britons view cryptocurrencies?

One in six (16%) believe cryptocurrencies are the future of online financial transactions, while just 4% have used them as a payment method

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are still a topic shrouded in mystery for the majority of the public, with three quarters (74%) saying they don’t understand the technology. This is hardly surprising, given that many Brits struggle with common economic terms that have been around for centuries.

Even two thirds of people who believe cryptocurrencies are the future of digital payments (65%) say they don’t really get how they work.

As if often the case, that lack of understanding seems to translate into distrust. Over half of people who struggle to understand cryptocurrencies (56%) believe the technology can’t be trusted. Among people who claim to grasp it well, this drops to 46% who think it can’t be trusted.

Similarly, 55% of people who say they don’t understand cryptocurrencies believe they are just a fad. In contrast, two in five people (38%) who claim to have some knowledge agree, while half (49%) disagree.

People, who say cryptocurrencies are the future of digital payments are more likely to be male (64%) and aged 18 to 39 (55%). They tend to be C2DEs who typically work in manual professions (54% compared with 46% of the wider population).

This group also includes a higher than average number of challenger bank customers. Some 9% use Revolut compared with 2% of the general population. A similar number use Monzo (9%), also above the national average (5%).

(YouGov)

August 25, 2020

Source: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/finance/articles-reports/2020/08/28/how-do-britons-view-cryptocurrencies

652-653-43-15/Poll

COVID crisis: who’s been hardest hit, the impact on Britain and generational prospects

New research, by King’s College London and Ipsos MORI, also finds little recognition among the public that their own generation’s prospects, or those of today’s youth, are at risk because of the crisis, while the public are relatively split on whether Britain will emerge stronger or weaker from the pandemic.

The study is based on 2,237 interviews with UK residents aged 16-75, carried out online between 17 and 20 July 2020.

Who has been – and who will be – more negatively impacted

Men vs women

The public are more than twice as likely to say the crisis has had a worse impact on men (26%) than women (10%) – although more (47%) think it has had an equal impact.
Even women are more likely to think men have been worse hit: 26% of both genders think this is the case, compared with 11% of women and 9% of men who say the opposite.
19% of men and 18% of women think men will be more negatively impacted over the next few years, compared with 10% and 11% respectively who say it’ll be women. 54% think the impact will be the same for both.

White people vs people from ethnic minorities

57% of the public say the impacts of the crisis have been more negative for people from ethnic minorities, compared with 7% who say they’ve been worse for white people.
59% of white people say people from ethnic minorities have been worse affected by the crisis so far – much higher than the 41% of ethnic minorities themselves who say the same.
Looking to the next few years, 50% of white people say those from ethnic minorities will be worse hit, compared with 36% of people from ethnic minorities who say the same.

Old people vs young people

Six in 10 (63%) think the COVID-19 crisis has so far affected old people worse than young people, while one in 10 (10%) think the reverse.
Gen Z are the only generation without a majority who feel the impact has been worse for old people – but they are still far more likely to think the old (45%) have been more negatively impacted than the young (18%).
There is little sign of the public recognising that the longer-term fallout from the crisis will likely be worse for young people. When asked about the impacts over the next few years:

16% think young people will be more greatly affected, compared with 49% who think old people will be.
Similar divides in opinion are found across all generations, with even gen Z less likely to say young people (22%) will be worse hit than old people (34%).

Other groups

The public feel the poor (59%) have been worse affected than the rich (3%), that people in cities (55%) have been worse hit than those in other areas (7%), and that the impact has been more negative for other groups of people (22%) than people like them (15%).
When asked about the longer-term impacts of the crisis over the next few years, there is no change in which groups the public think will be more negatively affected.

Will Britain emerge weaker or stronger?

The public are relatively divided on how the coronavirus crisis will affect Britain:

46% say the country will be weaker because of it for years to come, compared with 39% who say the country will be stronger when it gets through it.
Greater optimism about Britain’s future is associated with greater trust in government, with certain groups more likely to say the country will emerge stronger, such as:

Those who support the government’s approach to controlling coronavirus (58%), 2019 Conservative voters (56%), those who trust the government to control the spread of coronavirus (55%) and those who trust government advice on when it’s safe to resume aspects of normal life (55%).

2019 Lib Dem (58%) and Labour voters (57%) are much more likely than Conservative voters (35%) to think the crisis will weaken Britain.
And people in Scotland are more pessimistic than the UK as a whole, with 58% saying they think Britain will be weaker.

Generational prospects

There is little indication that the COVID-19 crisis has affected the public’s views on their own generation’s prospects, or those of today’s youth:

34% feel their generation will have had a better life than their parents – virtually the same as the 36% who felt this way in 2013, when the same question was last asked.
And the proportion who feel their generation’s lives will have been worse has actually declined since then – from 40% in 2013 to 28% today. In line with this, 30% now think their lives will be about the same, up from 19%.
Baby boomers are the only cohort with a majority (52%) who think their generation’s lives will be better than their parents’, and they are more than twice as likely as millennials (21%) and members of gen Z (25%) to feel this way.
The situation is reversed when it comes to those who feel their generation will have been worse off, with millennials (37%) and members of gen Z (34%) more than twice as likely as baby boomers (16%) to think this.
People from ethnic minorities (37%) are more likely than white people (26%) to feel their generation’s lives will be worse than their parents’.
Despite the educational and economic challenges COVID-19 poses to many young people, the proportion who feel today’s youth will have a worse life than their parents has declined since 2019, from 47% to 38%.
34% of gen Z, 39% of millennials, 38% of gen X and 40% of baby boomers feel young people’s lives will be worse than their parents’ – and no generation is more likely to think they will be better.

Professor Bobby Duffy, director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, said:

The public are relatively split on whether Britain will be weaker or stronger following the COVID-19 crisis, but there’s more certainty about who’s been worse hit so far, with old people in particular seen as among the most at risk – even over the next few years. That’s despite dire predictions about the hardship many young people may be set to face as a result of the pandemic, with their education, employment prospects and economic futures in doubt.
And while many politicians and commentators are seeing the pandemic as a generation-defining event, driven by the huge economic and social disruption resulting from the crisis, public opinion hasn’t shifted to reflect this yet: there’s been little change in people’s views on whether today’s youth or their own generation will have had a better life than their parents – with, if anything, people slightly more positive than previous years.
The public are also more likely to think men have been more negatively affected by the crisis, and will continue to be in the longer term – which is likely due to reports of greater adverse health impacts for men from coronavirus. But other research shows women are more likely to have lost their jobs, to have suffered from mental health problems, and to have borne the brunt of childcare responsibilities throughout lockdown. These wider impacts are not top of mind, as people are more than twice as likely to say the crisis has affected men worse than women – and women themselves are more likely to say this too.

Kelly Beaver, managing director of Ipsos MORI Public Affairs, said:

We see from this research that across the generations people believe that older people have been affected worse than younger people. This is likely due to the particular health concerns that we have seen associated with COVID-19 and those over 70 in particular. Britons are roughly divided on whether Britain will be stronger or weaker after the pandemic, with partisanship playing a significant role in knowing which side of that question people fall on.

(Ipsos MORI)

August 24, 2020

Source: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/covid-crisis-whos-been-hardest-hit-impact-britain-and-generational-prospects

652-653-43-16/Poll

Majority of those working from home are not finding working from home challenging, but many miss their co-workers and technology

While most of those working from home are not struggling, the lack of space, colleagues and technology has been noticed.

Young people are more likely to find it difficult working from home, while the majority of Britons in work aren’t
Lack of suitable work space, missing co-workers and technology most common causes of struggles with working from home

Over a third of those currently employed are now working from home, including half of those who normally worked in an office before lockdown. In a new survey by Ipsos MORI, 6 in 10 (59%) of those now working mainly from home say it is not a challenge, while 40% admit to struggling at least a fair amount.

The majority of those working from home don’t find it challenging, but young people are most likely to struggle. However, this varies according to age. Those aged between 18-34 are most likely to find working from home a challenge, just over half of this age group say they are finding their current working situation challenging (52%), while only around a third of other age groups say the same (35% of 35-54s and 31% of 55-75s).

The most common reason for those struggling to work from is the lack of suitable workspace available, 2 in 5 (38%) of those struggling cite this as a key cause of the challenge, while a further 36% say they miss meeting and working in person with their colleagues. Those aged 55-75 are significantly more likely to say they miss their colleagues; 55% say this is a reason they struggle with working from home, compared to a third of other age groups (33% of 18-34s and 34% of 35-54s). Over a quarter (27%) are finding it hard to collaborate with their co-workers while working from home. More than a third of those currently working from home say they are having difficulty maintaining a work-life balance (36%).

Lack of space, missing colleagues and work-life balance are the most common challenges when working from home. Other key reasons include unreliability and/ or lack of technology/ equipment (28% and 27% respectively), the other people in their home environment (24%) and childcare responsibilities (22%).

Kelly Beaver, Managing Director of Ipsos MORI said:

As companies start looking to return to their offices to some degree our latest research shows that the best way to encourage people to return is emphasising the more collaborative atmosphere of working physically alongside colleagues as well as making it easier, particularly for younger workers, in having a properly set up space to work from.

(Ipsos MORI)

August 24, 2020

Source: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/majority-those-working-home-are-not-finding-it-challenging-many-miss-co-workers-technology

NORTH AMERICA

652-653-43-17/Poll

Key takeaways on Americans’ views of and experiences with dating and relationships

Some 15% of U.S. adults say they are single and looking for a committed relationship or casual dates. Among them, most say they are dissatisfied with their dating lives, according to the survey, which was conducted in October 2019 – before the coronavirus pandemic shook up the dating scene. Here are some additional key findings from the study.

Nearly half (47%) of all Americans say dating is harder today than it was 10 years ago. A third of adults (33%) say dating is about the same as it was a decade ago, and 19% say it’s easier. Women are much more likely than men to say dating has gotten harder (55% vs. 39%).

Among those who say dating is harder today, 21% think it is because of increased risk, including physical risks as well as the risk of getting scammed or lied to. Women are twice as likely as men to cite increased risk as a reason why dating is harder (26% vs. 13%).

Other reasons why people think dating is harder include technology (12%), the idea that dating has become more impersonal (10%), the more casual nature of dating today (9%), and changing societal expectations, moral or gender roles (8%).

Technology tops the list of reasons why people think dating has gotten easier in the last decade. Among those who say dating is easier today, 41% point to technology, followed by 29% who say it’s easier to meet people now and 10% who cite changing gender roles and societal expectations.

Most daters don’t feel like their dating life is going well and say it’s been hard to find people to date. Two-thirds of those who are single and looking for a relationship or dates say their dating life is going not too or not at all well (67%), while 33% say it’s going very or fairly well. Majorities of daters across gender, age, race and ethnicity, education, sexual orientation and marital history say their dating life isn’t going well.

Three-quarters of daters say it’s been difficult to find people to date in the past year, according to the pre-coronavirus survey. Among the top reasons cited are finding someone looking for the same type of relationship (53%), finding it hard to approach people (46%) and finding someone who meets their expectations (43%).

Substantial shares of daters also report other obstacles, including the limited number of people in their area (37%), being too busy (34%) and people not being interested in dating them (30%).

A majority (57%) of women – and 35% of men – say they have experienced some kind of harassing behavior from someone they were dating or had been on a date with. Women are much more likely than men to say they have been pressured for sex (42% vs. 19%) or have been touched in a way that made them feel uncomfortable (35% vs. 9%). While the gender gap is smaller, women are also more likely than men to say someone they have been on a date with sent them unwanted sexually explicit images or spread rumors about their sexual history.

Some 42% of women younger than 40 say someone they’ve been on a date with has sent them unwanted sexually explicit images, compared with 26% of men in this age group. And while 23% of women younger than 40 say someone they have been on a date with has spread rumors about their sexual history, 16% of younger men say the same. There is no gender gap on these questions among those older than 40.

Many Americans say an increased focus on sexual harassment and assault has muddied the waters, especially for men, in the dating landscape. A majority of Americans (65%) say the increased focus on sexual harassment and assault over the last few years has made it harder for men to know how to interact with someone they’re on a date with. About one-in-four adults (24%) say it hasn’t made much of a difference, while 9% say it has made things easier for men.

Meanwhile, 43% of Americans say the attention paid to sexual harassment and assault has made it harder for women to know how to interact with someone they’re on a date with, compared with 38% who say it hasn’t made much of a difference and 17% who say it’s easier for women.

Men are more likely than women to think the focus on sexual harassment and assault has made it harder for men to know how to act on dates. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to say this. Older men are also more likely than their younger counterparts to hold this view: Three-quarters of men 50 and older say it’s harder for single-and-looking men to know how to behave, compared with 63% of men younger than 50.

Premarital sex is largely seen as acceptable, but more Americans see open relationships and sex on the first date as taboo. Most adults (65%) say sex between unmarried adults in a committed relationship can be acceptable, and about six-in-ten (62%) say casual sex between consenting adults who aren’t in a committed relationship is acceptable at least sometimes. While men and women have similar views about premarital sex, men are much more likely than women to find casual sex acceptable (70% vs. 55%).

Americans are less accepting of other practices. For example, open relationships – that is, committed relationships where both people agree that it is acceptable to date or have sex with other people – are viewed as never or rarely acceptable by most Americans. About half of adults (48%) say having an open relationship is never acceptable, 20% say it’s rarely acceptable and 32% say it’s sometimes or always acceptable.

When it comes to consenting adults sharing sexually explicit images of themselves, about half of adults (49%) say it is at least sometimes acceptable, while a similar share (50%) say it is rarely or never acceptable. However, there are large age differences in views of this practice. Adults ages 18 to 29 are more than three times as likely as those 65 and older to say this is always or sometimes acceptable (70% vs. 21%). Younger adults are also more likely to say open relationships can be acceptable.

Many singles are open to dating someone who is different from them, but certain characteristics would give some people pause. Distance, debt and voting for Donald Trump top the list of reasons singles looking for a relationship wouldn’t consider a potential partner, but there are other considerations, too. For example, 38% say dating someone 10 years older than them would give them pause, and 36% say the same about dating someone who is raising children from another relationship. Some of those looking for a relationship also say they definitely or probably wouldn’t consider being in a relationship with someone who is a Republican (27% of all daters), someone who voted for Hillary Clinton (26%), someone who practices a different religion (23%) or someone who is a different race or ethnicity (15%). Among daters looking for a relationship who are 28 and older, 27% say they definitely or probably wouldn’t consider a relationship with someone 10 years younger than them.

There are some differences in these attitudes by gender, political party and age. For example, single women looking for a relationship are roughly three times as likely as men to say they wouldn’t consider a relationship with someone who makes significantly less money than them (24% vs. 7%). Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they probably or definitely wouldn’t consider a committed relationship with someone of a different race or ethnicity (21% vs. 12%). And when it comes to debt, 59% of adults 40 and older say they probably or definitely wouldn’t consider a committed relationship with someone who has significant debt, compared with 41% of people younger than 40.

While meeting partners through personal networks is still the most common kind of introduction, about one-in-ten partnered adults (12%) say they met their partner online. About a third (32%) of adults who are married, living with a partner or are in a committed relationship say friends and family helped them find their match. Smaller shares say they met through work (18%), through school (17%), online (12%), at a bar or restaurant (8%), at a place of worship (5%) or somewhere else (8%).

Meeting online is more common among younger adults and those who live in urban and suburban areas, as well as those who are lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). About one-in-five partnered adults ages 18 to 29 (21%) say they met their partner online, compared with 15% or fewer among their older counterparts. And while 28% of partnered LGB adults say they met their partner online, 11% of those who are straight say the same.

Among those who met their partner online, 61% say they met through a dating app, while 21% met on a social media site or app, 10% met on an online discussion forum, 3% met on a texting or messaging app and 3% through online gaming.

Half of singles say they aren’t currently looking for a relationship or dates. Among these single non-daters, 47% say a major reason why they aren’t currently looking for a relationship or dates is that they have more important priorities, while 44% say they just like being single. Other factors include being too busy (20%), not having had luck in the past (18%), feeling like no one would be interested in dating them (17%), not being ready to date after losing a spouse or ending a relationship (17%), feeling too old to date (17%) and having health problems that make dating difficult (11%).

While these answers are mostly similar for men and women, there is one notable exception: Male non-daters are about twice as likely as female non-daters to say a major reason they aren’t looking to date is the feeling that no one would be interested in dating them (26% vs. 12%).

There is also some variation by age. For example, 61% of non-daters younger than 50 say that a major reason they aren’t looking to date is that they have more important priorities, compared with 38% of older non-daters. And a quarter of non-daters ages 50 and older – including 30% of those 65 and up – say a major reason is they that feel too old to date.

(PEW)

August 20, 2020

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/20/key-takeaways-on-americans-views-of-and-experiences-with-dating-and-relationships/

652-653-43-18/Poll

Black Americans have less confidence in scientists to act in the public interest

Scientists are held in high esteem by most Americans, with public confidence in scientists outpacing that for other prominent groups, but Black adults are significantly less likely than White adults to share that view.

U.S. Hispanics rate scientists about the same as White adults do, expressing more confidence in them than Black adults do.

How we did this

White Americans have been more likely than Black Americans to express a great deal of trust in scientists in each Center survey since 2016. This pattern also occurs in data from the General Social Survey from earlier years. The differences persist when taking into account other factors such as political party and education.

There are attitudinal differences between White and Black Americans on a range of issues related to science, including intent to get a COVID-19 vaccine. A recent Pew Research Center analysis found that 74% of White adults (and an identical share of Hispanics) said they would definitely or probably get a coronavirus vaccine, compared with 54% of Black adults who said this.

While Black Americans overwhelmingly identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, and Democrats, as a group, tend to have more positive views of scientists than Republicans and those who lean toward the Republican party, the same divide by race holds true for Black and White Democrats. In the 2020 Pew Research Center survey, White Democrats are roughly twice as likely as Black Democrats to say they have a great deal of confidence in scientists to act in the best interests of the public (62% vs. 29%).

About a quarter (26%) of White Republicans have a great deal of confidence in scientists to act in the public interest, but there are not enough Black Republicans in the survey sample for separate analysis.

There are also differences between White and Black adults on a similar question in the most recent GSS. In 2018, that survey found that 47% of White adults had a great deal of confidence in leaders of the scientific community, compared with 30% of Black adults (a 17 percentage point difference). Overall, 55% of Black adults said they had “only some confidence” in scientific leaders, and 12% said they had hardly any confidence in scientific leaders. White adults were less likely to express these views: 46% had only some confidence in scientists and 5% had hardly any. The views of Hispanics fell between those of White and Black Americans.

The gap between Black and White adults has been consistent in GSS surveys over time. Penn State Professor Eric Plutzer found Black adults to have lower confidence in scientific leaders than White adults in a combined analysis of data from 2006 to 2010, even after controlling for education, science knowledge and other factors.

The gap between Black and White adults in confidence in scientists is larger than the gaps seen in ratings of most other groups. In the Center survey, the confidence gap is larger for scientists (14 points) than for any other group or institution rated, including the military, religious leaders and business leaders. Similarly, differences in confidence between Black and White Americans are largest for scientific leaders and the U.S. Supreme Court (17 points each) in the 2018 GSS survey.

These findings are in keeping with the more mixed views of Black Americans in their assessments of science and scientific research. In a 2019 Center survey, 59% of Black Americans said science has had a mostly positive effect on society, 34% said the effect has been an equal mix of positive and negative, and 6% said the effect has been mostly negative. By contrast, about eight-in-ten White Americans (78%) considered the effect of science on society to be mostly positive. Such findings align with data from the GSS in recent years showing that Black Americans are less inclined than White Americans to say the benefits of scientific research outweigh potential harms.

(PEW)

August 28, 2020

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/28/black-americans-have-less-confidence-in-scientists-to-act-in-the-public-interest/

652-653-43-19/Poll

Trump and Biden supporters differ sharply on acknowledging the nation’s historical flaws

A large majority of registered voters (71%) say that “it makes the U.S. stronger when we acknowledge the country’s historical flaws.” About three-in-ten voters (28%) say “the U.S. may not have been perfect, but focusing on its historical flaws makes the country weaker.”

An overwhelming majority of registered voters who support Biden (87%) say that acknowledging the country’s historical flaws makes the U.S. stronger. Trump supporters are evenly divided: Almost half (47%) say focusing on historical flaws makes the country weaker, while 51% say that acknowledging flaws makes the country stronger.

How we did this

Overall, voters are divided on the question of whether U.S. success has been more because of its ability to change (51% say this) or because of its reliance on long-standing principles (47%).

The gap between Trump and Biden supporters is about as wide on this question: By more than two-to-one (68% to 30%), Biden supporters credit U.S. success to its ability to change. By a fairly similar margin (66% to 33%), Trump voters hold the opposing view, that the U.S. owes its success more to reliance on long-standing principles.

There are demographic differences in opinions on both of these questions, but they are much wider when it comes to views of why the U.S. has been successful.

The age divides are substantial: 68% of registered voters ages 18 to 29 say the U.S. is successful more because of its ability to change. The share who express this view declines across each older age group — just 39% of those ages 65 and older associate U.S. success more with the country’s ability to change, while 58% attribute it more to the nation’s reliance on long-standing principles.

White voters are divided over whether an ability to change (47%) or a reliance on long-standing principles (51%) has more to do with the nation’s success. However, majorities of Black (62%) and Hispanic (60%) voters say the country’s ability to change has more to do with its success.

There also are differences in views within both parties by ideology. Roughly three-quarters of conservative Republican voters (73%) say the U.S. has been successful more because of its reliance on long-standing principles, compared with 48% of moderate and liberal Republicans who say this.

Liberal Democratic voters (73%) are more likely to say the ability to change has more to do with the country’s success than conservative and moderate Democrats (64%), though this is the majority view among those in both groups.

Majorities across nearly all major demographic groups say it makes the country stronger to acknowledge its historical flaws.

Nearly two-thirds of White voters (68%) say acknowledging the United States’ historical flaws makes the country stronger. Larger majorities of Black (83%) and Hispanic (74%) voters say the same.

And while there are modest age differences in these views, roughly two-thirds or more voters in all age categories say that it makes the U.S. stronger to acknowledge historical flaws.

(PEW)

August 25, 2020

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/25/trump-and-biden-supporters-differ-sharply-on-acknowledging-the-nations-historical-flaws/

652-653-43-20/Poll

Public confidence in scientists has remained stable for decades

In the group’s 2018 General Social Survey, the most recent available, 44% of Americans overall have a great deal of confidence in the scientific community, while 47% have only some confidence and 7% have hardly any. This was roughly the same share as in 2016, when 40% said they had a great deal of confidence in scientific leaders. (The 4-percentage-point uptick does not reach statistical significance.)

Public confidence in the scientific community stands out as among the most stable of about a dozen institutions rated in the GSS since the mid-1970s. Confidence in medicine has been somewhat less stable, however. It declined in the early 1990s and has ticked downward again in more recent years, from 41% in 2010 to 36% in 2016 and 37% in NORC’s most recent survey.

How we did this

Public confidence in the science community and in medicine is higher than in many other institutions. Confidence is highest for leaders of the military, with 60% expressing a great deal of confidence. At the opposite end of the spectrum, just 13% of Americans express a great deal of confidence in the press and 6% say the same about Congress. On average, confidence in institutions is lower today than it was in the mid-1970s.

A 2020 Pew Research Center survey asked respondents about their confidence in certain groups and institutions to act in the best interests of the public. Out of the 10 groups and institutions included in the survey, Americans are most likely to express confidence in medical scientists, scientists and the military.

About nine-in-ten U.S. adults (89%) have either a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in medical scientists to act in the public interest. Large majorities also have at least a fair amount of confidence in scientists (87%) and the military (83%).

By contrast, about half of Americans have not too much or no confidence in journalists or business leaders (52% each) to act in the public interest. Public trust in elected officials also is comparatively low; a majority (62%) say they have little or no confidence in them.

Majorities across social and demographic groups say they have at least a fair amount of confidence in scientists to act in the best interests of the public, according to the Center’s survey. Those with more education are somewhat more likely to have high levels of confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interests. For example, 54% of those with a postgraduate degree have a great deal of confidence in scientists, compared with 32% of those with a high school degree or less.

(PEW)

August 25, 2020

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/27/public-confidence-in-scientists-has-remained-stable-for-decades/

652-653-43-21/Poll

More in U.S. Believe Protest Actions Can Aid Black Adults

Americans are still most likely to see nonviolent protest and legal action as being helpful, and least likely to say violent protest is.

Stacked bar graph. 77% of Americans up from 68% in 1988 say nonviolent protest can help improve the situation of Black Americans. 66% similar to 62% in 1988 say legal action can help improve the situation of Black Americans. 50% up from 29% in 1988 say economic actions such as boycotts can help improve the situation of Black Americans. 12% up from 4% in 1988 say violent protest can help improve the situation of Black Americans. 73% of Americans down from 79% in 1988 say violent protest hurts efforts to improve the situation of Black Americans.

These results are based on a June 8-July 24 survey of U.S. adults, which included an oversample of Black Americans.

The survey was conducted during a period of nationwide protests for racial justice and police reform in response to the May 25 death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.

Most of the recent protesting has been peaceful, which is in keeping with U.S. adults' views that nonviolent protest is helpful for improving the situation of Black Americans. Some protests have resulted in property damage, injury and even death. While slightly more Americans today than in 1988 view violent protest as potentially helpful, the majority, 73%, still view it as harmful.

Whereas Americans in 1988 were split on the effectiveness of economic action such as boycotts, they are now much more inclined to say it would help (50%) rather than hurt (22%) Black Americans' situation. Many companies publicly affirmed their support of the Black community after Floyd's death, but advocates for the Black Lives Matter movement called for boycotts of companies that do not support BLM efforts.

A recent example of the potential impact of economic action that occurred during the poll's field period was the decision of the Washington, D.C., football team to drop its "Redskins" nickname after years of controversy. The decision came after major corporate sponsors demanded a name change and threatened to sever ties with the team if it did not comply.

Views Toward Boycotts, Violent Protest Differ by Racial Group

Black adults tend to be more optimistic than White adults that the various citizen actions tested in the poll would help improve the situation for Black Americans.

The two racial groups differ most in their opinions about the effectiveness of boycotts -- 69% of Black adults and 48% of White adults say boycotts would help. But White respondents are twice as likely to say boycotts are helpful rather than harmful.

Black Americans are modestly more likely than White Americans to believe legal action (74% vs. 65%, respectively) and violent protest (21% vs. 9%) can help. But majorities of both groups view violent protest as hurting the cause.

A nonsignificant six percentage points separate Black (72%) and White (78%) Americans' views of the helpfulness of nonviolent protest.

Perceived Helpfulness of Actions to Improve the Situation for Black Americans, by Racial Group

Here is a list of actions Black people might take to improve their situation in this country. For each, please tell me if you think taking the action would help Blacks, hurt Blacks or if you think it would have no effect.

	Help	Hurt	No effect
	%	%	%
Nonviolent protest
Black adults	72	7	20
White adults	78	5	16
Legal action
Black adults	74	5	19
White adults	65	12	21
Economic action such as boycotts
Black adults	69	11	19
White adults	48	24	27
Violent protest
Black adults	21	59	19
White adults	9	79	12
GALLUP, JUNE 8-JULY 24, 2020

Since 1988, Black adults have become more likely to view boycotts (up 15 points, from 54%) and violent protest (up 11 points, from 10%) as potentially helpful. Their views on nonviolent protest and legal action are similar to what they were 32 years ago.

White Americans' opinions on the helpfulness of legal action and violent protest have changed little since 1988, but they are significantly more likely now to think nonviolent protest and especially boycotts are effective. The percentage of White adults who say boycotts are helpful has nearly doubled, from 26% to 48%.

Perceived Helpfulness of Actions to Improve the Situation for Black Americans, by Racial Group -- 1988 vs. 2020

	1988	2020	Change
	% Help	% Help	Pct. pts.
Nonviolent protest
Black adults	72	72	0
White adults	67	78	+11
Legal action
Black adults	79	74	-5
White adults	60	65	+5
Economic action such as boycotts
Black adults	54	69	+15
White adults	26	48	+22
Violent protest
Black adults	10	21	+11
White adults	4	9	+5
GALLUP

Most of Those Sympathetic With Violent Protest Say It Is Not Justified

The poll asked a new question to assess whether Americans sympathize with protestors who engage in violent forms of protest such as looting or property damage even if they don't condone those actions. Overall, 41% of Americans say they sympathize with such protestors -- regardless of whether they think the actions are justified -- including 60% of Black Americans and 38% of White Americans.

But most Americans who sympathize with these protestors still believe the actions are unjustified. As a result, 8% of all Americans say violent protest is justified, including 12% of Black Americans and 8% of White Americans.

Americans Largely Say Violent Protest Is Not Justified

How do you feel about those who are looting or committing property damage during protests on racial justice -- sympathetic, and believe their actions are justified; sympathetic, but believe their actions are not justified; or not sympathetic?

	U.S. adults	Black adults	White adults
	%	%	%
Sympathetic to protestors, actions are justified	8	12	8
Sympathetic to protestors, actions are not justified	33	48	30
Not sympathetic to protestors	57	38	60
NET: Sympathetic	41	60	38
GALLUP, JUNE 8-JULY 24, 2020

Implications

Citizen activism has exploded in 2020, and much of that activity has focused on racial justice in the U.S. Recent activism has taken many forms but primarily has involved nonviolent protest, something Black and White Americans widely believe can help improve the situation for Black people in this country.

Local governments have responded to these protests by enacting new policies, many dealing with police reform. The protests have also led to the removal of monuments to Confederate leaders and other historical figures associated with mistreating racial and ethnic minorities. Additionally, businesses have taken steps to promote diversity and reassess their products and branding in light of the greater focus on racial equity.

Matters of race promise to be a key factor in the 2020 presidential election, as racism and race relations rank among the top issues Americans name as the most important problem facing the country.

Increased attention to this issue and increased pressure for change demonstrate the extent to which protesting and other actions can prompt institutions and political leaders to implement changes in policy.

(Gallup USA)

August 26, 2020

Source: https://news.gallup.com/poll/317321/believe-protest-actions-aid-black-adults.aspx

652-653-43-22/Poll

Satisfaction Among Americans Remains at Nine-Year Low

Line graph. Americans satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. Thirteen percent of Americans in August are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S., unchanged from the 13% who said the same in July.

Americans' satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. has fluctuated greatly this year. In February, with the economy still strong and President Donald Trump acquitted on impeachment charges, Americans' satisfaction with how things were going in the country was relatively high at 45% -- a level not seen since 2005. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic struck, with its associated precipitous decline of economic and in-person social activity, there was a stark deterioration of satisfaction among Americans.

Most Important Problem Facing the U.S.

While the pandemic has remained the most important problem for Americans since April, the current 35% mentioning it represents an uptick from the previous two months. Twenty-two percent mention the government, similar to the level of mentions since April. Relatively few Americans, 12%, say any economic troubles, including the economy in general terms, unemployment or economic inequality, are the most important problem facing the country.

Recent Trend in Americans' View of Most Important Problem in the U.S., 2020

What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?

	May 28-Jun 4	Jul 1-23	Jul 30-Aug 12
	%	%	%
NET ECONOMIC PROBLEMS	19	9	12
Economy in general	8	4	7
Unemployment/Jobs	5	2	3
Gap between rich and poor	3	1	1
Corporate corruption	*	*	1
NET NONECONOMIC PROBLEMS	82	83	89
Coronavirus/Diseases	20	30	35
The government/Poor leadership	21	23	22
Race relations/Racism	19	16	10
Unifying the country	4	6	4
Crime/Violence	3	5	4
Ethics/Moral decline; Dishonesty; Lack of integrity	3	2	3
Healthcare	3	2	3
Judicial system/Courts/Laws	2	3	3
Immigration	2	1	2
Lack of respect for each other	4	2	2
The media	2	2	2
Police brutality	2	*	1
Education	1	1	1
Elections/Election reform	1	1	1
Poverty/Hunger/Homelessness	1	1	1
Welfare	*	*	1
Environment/Pollution/Climate change	2	1	1
Other noneconomic	4	4	2
No opinion	2	2	1
Shown are responses with at least 1% mentions in the July 30-Aug. 12 survey
GALLUP

Race relations, which in June reached a generational high of 19% mentions in the wake of the George Floyd killing, declined to 10%, the lowest since this summer's protests and national focus on racial justice began.

Economic Confidence Remains Sluggish in August

Gallup's Economic Confidence Index is at -16 this month, essentially the same as the -15 reading from July. It remains well below the +41 recorded in February, the highest Gallup has measured in nearly two decades. However, the current reading is improved from the recent low of -33 in April.

Line graph. Gallup's Economic Confidence Index for 2020, year to date. The index currently stands at -16, little changed from -15 last month, and down from a two-decade high of +41 in February.

Gallup's Economic Confidence Index summarizes Americans' responses to two items: their assessments of current economic conditions and their perceptions of whether the economy is getting better or worse. It has a theoretical range from -100 to +100.

Currently, 28% describe current economic conditions as excellent or good, 41% say they are "only fair" and 30% poor. Thirty-two percent believe the economy is getting better and 61% say it is getting worse.

Bottom Line

The challenges currently facing the U.S. are numerous and multifaceted -- from the impacts of the pandemic to economic deterioration, and from political paralysis on Capitol Hill to a focus on racial justice, albeit waning. In every direction one looks, the U.S. is facing unique and historic challenges. In terms of the most important, the pandemic continues to be the most top-of-mind for Americans, but the impact of those varied challenges is perhaps best reflected in the persistence of a nine-year low in overall national satisfaction.

(Gallup USA)

August 21, 2020

Source: https://news.gallup.com/poll/317765/satisfaction-among-americans-remains-nine-year-low.aspx

652-653-43-23/Poll

Public Reengages With Election After Early Pandemic Dip

At the same time, the political contours of Americans' connection to the campaign haven't changed. Today, as from January through April, Republicans and Democrats are paying comparable attention, while Republicans hold the edge on enthusiasm about voting.

Highest Percentage Thus Far Giving a Lot of Thought to 2020 Election

Seven in 10 Americans report giving a lot of thought to the election in Gallup's latest poll, conducted July 30-Aug. 12. This is the highest rate of public attention recorded thus far in the 2020 election cycle, starting from last fall.

Public attention to the election had waned in late April -- falling to 59%, from 67% in February -- as surging cases of COVID-19 dominated the news and disrupted Americans' lives.

Line graph. Trend from 2019 to August 2020 in Americans' self-reported amount of thought given to the 2020 election. The percentage giving quite a lot of thought is now 71%, up from 59% in April and from between 59% and 67% earlier in the cycle.

The 71% paying a lot of attention today is on par with the levels seen in August or September of the last four presidential election years, including 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Attention was considerably lower in 2000.

Republicans and Democrats Equally Attentive to the Campaign

Attention to the presidential election is up 13 percentage points in the latest poll among both party groups, which include independents who lean toward each party. Seventy-two percent of Republicans and 76% of Democrats are now giving "quite a lot of thought" to the election.

Thought Given to 2020 Election, by Party ID

% Quite a lot of thought

	Republicans/Leaners	Democrats/Leaners
	%	%
2020 Jul 30-Aug 12	72	76
2020 Apr 14-28	59	63
2020 Feb 17-28	66	72
2020 Jan 16-29	65	61
GALLUP

Party comparability on election thought is not unprecedented but is also not the norm. Typically, more Republicans than Democrats indicate they are paying attention to presidential elections. The exceptions to the historical pattern occurred during most of the 2008 election cycle and for brief periods of the 2000 and 2004 cycles. However, Republicans have had an advantage on this measure in the final preelection survey in each election year since 1992 (the years in which Gallup can analyze data by party identification), including 2008.

Enthusiasm About Voting Also Ticks Up

The percentage of Americans describing themselves as "more enthusiastic" about voting this year than in previous elections is back above 60% after dipping below that level in February and April.

At the same time, the percentage of Americans feeling "less enthusiastic" about voting is also up slightly, with the current 31% the highest recorded in this election cycle. Fewer Americans now volunteer that their enthusiasm is "the same."

Line graph. Trend from October 2019 to August 2020 in Americans enthusiasm about voting this year compared with usually. After dipping to 56% in April, the percentage feeling more enthusiastic is back to 63%, where it was in January.

Today's level of enthusiasm is relatively high for August of an election year, matched only by 2004, when 67% said they felt more enthusiastic than usual about voting. However, the trends show that enthusiasm typically increases to the low to mid-60s by Election Day. The one exception is 2016, when relatively few adults felt more enthusiastic about voting in both May (46%) and November (47%), perhaps because of the historical unpopularity of the two major-party candidates.

Both party groups feel more enthusiastic about the election today than they did in April -- Democrats up 10 points to 64% and Republicans up eight points to 70%.

Line graph. Trend from October 2019 to August 2020 in the percentage of Republicans and Democrats feeling more enthusiastic about voting this year than usual. Republicans maintain an edge on this measure -- six percentage points, 70% to 64% -- similar to the pattern since January. Last October, the two were roughly tied.

Although Republicans have maintained an edge over Democrats in enthusiasm thus far in 2020, Gallup trends suggest this is not a reliable indicator of success in November.

Republicans also reported more enthusiasm than Democrats about voting in 2016 and 2012, but the GOP candidate prevailed in only one of these -- Donald Trump in 2016 -- and that was while losing the popular vote.
Republican George W. Bush also won in 2004, but that was with neither party holding a clear advantage on enthusiasm in November. For most of the year, Republicans and Democrats traded the lead on enthusiasm, with some of the jockeying reflecting the impact of the party conventions.
Democrats maintained an extraordinarily large advantage on enthusiasm in 2008, first as they waged a hotly contested campaign for the nomination, with the historic implication of choosing either the first woman or first Black American to be a major-party standard-bearer. Democrats' enthusiasm advantage continued after Barack Obama became the nominee and ultimately won the election.

Implications

About halfway through an unusual election year in which the main news story has not been the presidential race but the worst pandemic in a century as well as recent attention to racial justice, Americans are showing renewed interest in the election after somewhat diverting their attention in the spring.

Gallup's "thought given to the election" question has historically been a valuable tool in predicting turnout levels, based on the final preelection reading. The high levels of attention both parties are giving would normally point to a high-turnout election, with neither party poised to benefit from the other party's voters staying home. How this plays out in 2020 with increased reliance on mail voting is unclear.

While less reliable for indicating which party is headed for victory, the enthusiasm measure may be useful when one party has an extreme advantage, such as in 2008. Right now, the Republicans' advantage is modest. Where this stands in the fall, after both parties have held their nominating conventions, will provide insight into how well this year's abridged conventions rallied their respective bases and set the candidates up for success in November.

(Gallup USA)

August 18, 2020

Source: https://news.gallup.com/poll/317567/public-reengages-election-early-pandemic-dip.aspx

652-653-43-24/Poll

Parents' and Students' Thoughts on Support Needed This Fall

As education leaders develop and revise plans for the 2020-2021 school year, parents, advocates and educators around the country are rightly concerned with ensuring equity as we navigate an education crisis we've never seen before. In response to these equity concerns, findings from a recent NewSchools Venture Fund-Gallup study provide insights into teachers', parents' and students' perspectives on how teaching and learning occurred in the spring of 2020, their thoughts about the upcoming school year, and the perceived value and effectiveness of digital learning tools to support teaching and learning.

Clarity, Access, Communication Are Keys to Success

The abrupt nature of school closures in the spring of 2020 did not allow for proper planning to transition students and teachers to a fully functional online school environment. Building on the lessons learned from that difficult experience, the study asked respondents to identify the types of educational support they would find most valuable in the upcoming school year.

Of eight potential needs included in the survey, clear expectations for daily or weekly schoolwork is the only one for which broad majorities of teachers (73%), parents (79%) and students (70%) alike agree they need most in the upcoming school year. Having clear expectations for daily or weekly schoolwork is a top need expressed by parents and students among all race/ethnicity groups, grade levels and income levels studied.

Teachers (50%), parents (44%) and students (46%) also say regular access to teachers is necessary for success. Students attending school in a large city (46%) are more likely than those who attend school in a suburb (34%), small town (39%) or rural area (27%) to say they need consistent communication from teachers and school/district leaders.

Most Important Needs to Succeed in the Upcoming School Year

What supports do [you/your students and their families] MOST need from school to help them be successful in the upcoming school year? Select up to three responses.

	Teachers (grades PK-12)	Parents of students (grades PK-12)	Students (grades 3-12)
	%	%	%
Clear expectations for daily/weekly schoolwork	73	79	70
Personal computer or tablet device	54	11	13
Regular access to teachers	50	44	46
Consistent communication from teachers and school/district leaders	34	45	37
Online instructions/resources to help [you/your child] use digital learning tools	29	22	23
Video lessons or video instruction	19	30	27
Digital versions of class materials	17	14	24
Hard-copy materials (like books or worksheets)	15	27	23
NEWSCHOOLS VENTURE FUND/GALLUP, 2020

Students Need Help Catching Up

About half of all students (46%) say they will need help catching up after remote learning in the spring. Black and Hispanic/Latino students, those from lower-income households with less than $50,000 annually, and high school students are the most likely to say they will need help catching up in the upcoming school year.

U.S. Students' Perceptions They Will Need Help to Catch Up This School Year

In the upcoming school year, do you think you will need help to catch up because of time you spent learning from home instead of at school in the spring of last school year?

	Yes, will need help to catch up
	%
All students (grades 3-12)	46
Elementary school (grades 3-5)	47
Middle school (grades 6-8)	40
High school (grades 9-12)	49
Black students	53
Hispanic/Latino students	48
White students	41
Less than $50,000	55
$50,000 to $74,999	52
$75,000 to $100,000	43
More than $100,000	41
NEWSCHOOLS VENTURE FUND/GALLUP, 2020

Teachers Value Digital Tools

Most teachers agree (27%) or strongly agree (59%) that there is great value in using digital learning tools. For this study, digital learning tools are broadly described as websites, apps, online tutorials, online games and videos, or programs used to teach and support student learning and schoolwork. These latest results are similar to those in 2019, when 81% of teachers, 88% of principals and 92% of district administrators said the same.

U.S. Teachers' Perceptions of the Value of Digital Learning Tools

I see great value in using digital learning tools in the classroom now.

	2019	2020
	%	%
Strongly agree	51	59
4	30	27
3	15	12
2	3	2
Strongly disagree	1	*
* Less than 0.5%
NEWSCHOOLS VENTURE FUND/GALLUP

While teachers see great value in digital tools, they are less likely now than they were in 2019 to indicate digital tools are at least as effective as nondigital tools. For example, while 63% of teachers in 2019 said digital learning tools are more effective than nondigital tools for connecting learning to students' future jobs and careers, 48% now say the same.

Still, the current findings show that majorities of teachers say digital learning tools are either equally or more effective than nondigital tools for nine different areas surveyed, including personalizing instruction (87%), giving students ownership of their learning (85%), and engaging students with school and learning (76%).

Enthusiasm for Digital Tools Has Waned

Students are less likely now than they were in 2019 to say digital tools are fun and make school more interesting. Nearly all younger students said in 2019 that digital learning tools are fun (96%), while 78% say the same in 2020. Older students' perspectives have also shifted. Less than half of students in grades six through 12 now agree that digital learning tools are fun (36%), make school more interesting (43%), help them learn things faster (39%) and help them remember what they learn (41%).

U.S. Students' Perceptions of Digital Learning Tools

Younger students were asked to say yes or no and older students were asked how much they agree or disagree with the following statements about digital learning tools.

	Younger students (grades 3-5)		Older students (grades 6-12)
	% Yes	% Yes	% Strongly agree/Agree	% Strongly agree/Agree
	2019	2020	2019	2020
They are fun.	96	78	61	36
They make school more interesting.	86	60	67	43
They help me learn things faster.	77	54	55	39
They help me remember what I learn in class.	82	75	57	41
NEWSCHOOLS VENTURE FUND/GALLUP

Implications

Many K-12 districts are entering the school year fully online, or in person with an expectation that remote learning will become required at some point during the 2020-2021 academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For all of these schools, digital learning tools are core to how they will reach and teach students during this incredibly difficult school year, and results from this study indicate that students' experience in the spring of 2020 may have negatively impacted their attitudes toward digital learning tools.

Despite some difficulties in the spring of 2020, though, teachers still see the potential value in these tools. Ensuring teachers have sufficient support will be critical to success in this upcoming year -- from digital learning tool providers and their school districts -- to maximize these tools and help students who fear they have fallen behind catch up and get ahead during a tumultuous academic year ahead.

In addition to the effective use of digital learning tools, it is important to note the main things all parties say they need to be successful this coming school year: clear expectations, access to teachers and consistent communication. The present reality -- one in which teachers, parents and students differ significantly in their confidence in and expectations for this fall -- indicates that these things are in short supply.

As we navigate this fall, schools will need to work to understand where parents and teachers are coming from, and address expectation gaps and confusion swiftly and intentionally. Perhaps more than ever, having teachers, parents and students well-connected and aligned is going to be crucial as families navigate distance learning and many use digital learning tools in new or different ways. There is an urgent opportunity for this improved coordination and collaboration if we are to provide more equitable learning outcomes for our students. While digital learning tools are well-positioned to support this effort, it will be the expectations and practices we put in place that determine our success.

(Gallup USA)

August 27, 2020

Source: https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/317957/parents-students-thoughts-support-needed-fall.aspx

652-653-43-25/Poll

More Americans say they are regularly wearing masks in stores and other businesses

The partisan divide has narrowed during this period, and solid majorities in both party coalitions now report regularly wearing masks. In the new survey, 92% of Democrats and those who lean toward the Democratic Party say they usually wear masks in stores and other businesses, as do 76% of Republicans and GOP leaners. In June, 76% of Democrats said they had usually worn masks in stores and other businesses over the past month, compared with a little over half of Republicans and GOP leaners (53%). The partisan gap is now 16 percentage points, down from 23 points this spring.

The narrowing partisan gap comes as the number of coronavirus cases has spiked far beyond the major metro areas that saw high infection rates and fatality counts earlier in the crisis. As rapidly growing case counts strained health care systems across the South and Southwest this summer, more Republican leaders ordered citizens to wear masks to help slow the spread of the virus. In July, President Donald Trump wore a mask in public for the first time and urged Americans to do the same, marking a change in tone from earlier in the pandemic.

In the new survey, 82% of adults under age 30 say they regularly wear a mask – up 20 percentage points since June, when 62% said they did so. The youngest adults are now nearly on par with those ages 65 and older, 88% of whom say they have usually worn masks to stores over the past month as of mid-August, up from 74% in the spring.

How we did this

Americans with college degrees remain more likely to wear a mask than those without a degree (91% vs. 82%), though this gap has also shrunk since June (76% vs. 60%).

Other demographic patterns have remained relatively consistent between June and August. For example, women have consistently reported wearing masks at slightly higher rates than men (87% vs. 83% in August, compared with 67% vs. 63% in June).

Meanwhile, White Americans (82%) still lag behind their Black (90%), Hispanic (91%) and Asian (90%) counterparts when it comes to regularly wearing masks in stores and other businesses. That was also the case in June, when 62% of White adults reported regularly wearing masks, compared with 69% of Black, 74% of Hispanic and 80% of Asian adults.

As the coronavirus outbreak has spread to new parts of the country, mask use has increased in some regions more than others. In the Mountain region – which includes states like Arizona, New Mexico and Montana – regular mask use rose from 52% of adults to 85% in only two months. The East and West South Central regions, which cover states from Texas to Kentucky, also saw large numbers of people adopting a mask-wearing habit during this period. By comparison, there was little or no change in the share of adults who say they regularly wear a mask in the New England and Middle Atlantic regions, where mask-wearing was already standard practice in early June.

Large majorities of adults in every region of the country now say they usually wear masks in stores and other business, according to the new survey. Mask-wearing is least common in the West North Central region, which covers states like Missouri, Kansas and Minnesota. But even in this region, 70% of adults still say they wear masks regularly in stores and other businesses, up from 47% in June.

(PEW)

August 27, 2020

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/27/more-americans-say-they-are-regularly-wearing-masks-in-stores-and-other-businesses/

AUSTRALIA

652-653-43-26/Poll

It’s official: Internet is Australia’s main source of news; TV remains most trusted

The number of Australians who say TV is their main source of news has dipped 1 million over the last two years to 12.4 million or 59.4%. However, TV is still regarded as the most trusted source of news nominated by nearly 7 million Australians (33.4%) – ahead of any other forms of traditional or digital media.

Other traditional media used widely as main sources of news include radio, nominated by 8.7 million Australians (41.9%) and printed newspapers mentioned by 5.2 million (25.0%), although both have declined since 2018.

Within the broader category of the internet over 3.4 million Australians (16.5%, a significant increase of 4.6% points since 2018) use news feed sites such as Google News, Apple News, Feedly etc., a further 1.8 million (8.6%) use email subscriptions or updates and 1.1 million (5.6%) use other websites or apps. There are 1.0 million (5.0%) who use magazines (printed, website or app) as a main source of news.

These latest findings are drawn from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, Australia’s most comprehensive survey, derived from in-depth interviews with 50,000 Australians each year.

Main sources of news – 2020 Vs. 2018

People surveyed were asked “Thinking about all the ways you get your news, how do you mainly get your news?” (Mark all that apply).

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source April 2017 - March 2018, n=50,014, April 2019 – March 2020, n=48,935. Base: Australians 14+. *TV including free-to-air TV and Pay TV.

TV is the most trusted source of news ahead of the internet and radio

TV remains clearly the most trusted source of news for Australians (mentioned by 33.4%, but down 4.9% points on two years ago), ahead of the internet on 25.7% (up 3.6% points). The internet is split between several different channels including news or newspaper websites/apps, social media, news feed sites such as Google News, Apple News, Feedly etc. and email subscriptions or updates.

The third most trusted source of news is the radio on 15.2% (down 0.7% points) just ahead of news and newspaper websites/apps on 13.7% (up 1.3% points). Newspapers in printed format have dropped 2.2% points to 9.5%. Only 5.0% (up 0.8% points) consider social media their most trusted source of news.

These findings are in line with Roy Morgan’s research of ‘Trust’ and ‘Distrust’ that shows social media is the least trusted media.

Most trusted sources of news – 2020 Vs. 2018

People surveyed were asked “Thinking about all the ways you get your news, which ONE do you trust most” (Mark one response only).

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source April 2017 - March 2018, n=50,014, April 2019 – March 2020, n=48,935. Base: Australians 14+. *TV including free-to-air TV and Pay TV.

Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says:

“As the world increases its levels of digital communication, one could be forgiven for thinking ‘traditional media’ is being left behind. However, the latest research from Roy Morgan, which specifically focuses on the use of, and trust in, news sources clearly shows that TV remains Australians’ most trusted source of news – and while the internet is now the most common source of news for Australians, TV is still one of Australians’ main sources of news. Additionally, large portions of the population continue to rely on radio and newspapers for their news.

“The proliferation of new digital media such as ‘social media’ in recent years coupled with the era of ‘fake news' has put a premium on ‘trust’ in media. Traditional media channels such as TV, radio, and newspapers that have built a high degree of trust over many decades do retain an advantage against new digital media. However, over the last two years Roy Morgan has revealed Internet channels are increasingly being relied upon to provide trusted sources of news.

“Although younger generations have a higher degree of trust in the internet including social media, 42% of 25-34yr olds and 36% of people under 25 trust the internet as a source of news compared to only 16% of 50-64yr olds and just 8% of people aged 65+, indications are that the level of trust in media generally is set to remain under pressure.

“In this challenging environment with Australians looking for the truth about the latest developments concerning COVID-19, government enforced lockdowns and the search for a vaccine to deal with the pandemic it is crucial for traditional media brands which have established their online presence to maintain and develop the trusted relationship their audiences have with those brands."

(Roy Morgan)

August 21, 2020

Source: https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/8492-main-sources-news-trust-june-2020-202008170619

652-653-43-27/Poll

Two-thirds of working Australians have had their employment impacted by COVID-19 – Victoria, NSW & Tasmania hardest hit

Interviewing was conducted throughput July 2020 with a nationally representative cross-section of 3,863 working Australians using a combination of telephone and online interviews (multi-mode).

Australians in the workforce were asked: “As a result of the Coronavirus Crisis, have you experienced any of the following employment changes.”

Some people reported several changes to their working conditions since the Coronavirus like being stood down, having reduced hours and working from home. This reflects the changing nature of the situation for companies and employees as they navigate the crisis.

ALL Employment changes mentioned as impacting on workers because of COVID-19:

	May 2020	July 2020
Now working from home	4.3 million (28%)	3.9 million (25%)
Having work hours reduced	3.3 million (22%)	3.2 million (21%)
My business has slowed or stopped completely	2.9 million (19%)	2.3 million (15%)
Had an increase in their work hours	1.9 million (12%)	2.0 million (13%)
Stood down for a period of time	1.7 million (11%)	1.5 million (9%)
No work available	1.3 million (9%)	1.2 million (7%)
Had their pay reduced for same number of work hours	880,000 (6%)	960,000 (6%)
Been made redundant	490,000 (3%)	620,000 (4%)
Have taken leave to avoid loss of pay	680,000 (4%)	480,000 (3%)
Some other change to employment	1.3 million (9%)	1.3 million (8%)
TOTAL Had a change to employment	11.2 million (72%)	10.4 million (67%)
NO changes to employment	3.5 million (23%)	4.2 million (27%)
Was not employed prior to COVID-19	730,000 (5%)	860,000 (6%)
Working Australians	15.4 million	15.5 million

*The figures in each column add to over 100% as many respondents mentioned more than one employment change they’ve had because of the coronavirus.

For the 1.3 million (8%) who cite ‘some other change to their employment’ this includes being put on enforced leave, changes in work rostering, social distancing measures at work, split shifts, an increase in responsibility, a halt to business growth, precautions put in place at work, being in a vulnerable group for COVID-19 so not being able to take work and an inability to see clients face-to-face.

Biggest employment impact of COVID-19 is in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania

Looking at the impact of the Coronavirus on employment at a State-based level shows the biggest impact in the three States which have had the most devastating outbreaks.

Nearly three-quarters of working Tasmanians (74%) have had a change to their employment due to the impact of the Coronavirus just ahead of people working in Victoria (71%) and New South Wales (70%).

The impact has been noticeably less in the three States which have dealt most effectively with COVID-19 and only 57% of working people in South Australia have had a change to their employment and 62% in each of Western Australia and Queensland.

Impact of the Coronavirus on employment By State

Source: Roy Morgan multi-mode survey of Australians conducted during July 2020, n=3,863. Base: Working Australians aged 14+. Respondents could nominate multiple employment changes.

Nearly a third of working people in New South Wales and Victoria worked from home in July

The most common employment change for working people in the two largest states is people working from home mentioned by 30% of working people in Victoria and 29% of those working in New South Wales.

A higher proportion of working people in New South Wales (22%) than Victoria (21%) have had their working hours reduced while one-in-six working Australians in both states say their businesses have slowed or stopped completely.

Working people in Victoria are more likely than their counterparts in New South Wales to have been stood down for a period of time (12% cf. 8%), to have had their pay reduced for the same number of work hours (7% cf. 6%), to have no work available (9% cf. 6%), to have been made redundant (5% cf. 4%) or to have taken leave to avoid loss of pay (4% cf. 3%).

ALL Employment changes mentioned as impacting on workers as a result of COVID-19:

	NSW	Victoria
Now working from home	1.5 million (29%)	1.2 million (30%)
Having work hours reduced	1.1 million (22%)	870,000 (21%)
My business has slowed or stopped completely	810,000 (16%)	650,000 (16%)
Had an increase in their work hours	730,000 (14%)	440,000 (11%)
Stood down for a period of time	400,000 (8%)	480,000 (12%)
Had their pay reduced for same number of work hours	320,000 (6%)	300,000 (7%)
No work available	280,000 (6%)	370,000 (9%)
Been made redundant	210,000 (4%)	200,000 (5%)
Have taken leave to avoid loss of pay	140,000 (3%)	150,000 (4%)
Some other change to employment	440,000 (9%)	360,000 (9%)
TOTAL Had a change to employment	3.5 million (70%)	2.9 million (71%)
NO changes to employment	1.2 million (24%)	1 million (24%)
Was not employed prior to COVID-19	270,000 (6%)	190,000 (5%)
Working Australians	5 million	4.1 million

*The figures in each column add to over 100% as many respondents mentioned more than one employment change they’ve had because of the coronavirus.

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says COVID-19 is continuing to be the main driver of Australia’s economic situation in 2020 with renewed lockdowns and restrictions enforced around the country in response to the second wave of the pandemic that began in June in Victoria:

“The second wave of the Coronavirus Crisis since June has been far more deadly than the first, but heavily concentrated in Victoria rather than felt equally around the nation. However, there have been significant spillover effects into NSW with hundreds of new cases linked to Victoria and the renewed outbreak has led other States such as Tasmania, Queensland, and Western Australia to keep their borders closed.

“In response to the second wave the Federal Government has extended JobKeeper until the end of March 2021 and the JobSeeker supplement payment has been extended until the end of 2020 but this still leaves millions of Australians and many businesses facing an uncertain future. The latest Roy Morgan’s July unemployment estimates showed 1.8 million Australians were unemployed in July with a further 1.5 million under-employed.

“Even so the 3.5 million Australians looking for work or looking for more work is dwarfed by the 10.4 million working Australians in July who have had their employment changed by the impact of the Coronavirus Crisis. The most widespread impact is being forced to work from home for 25% of working Australians (3.9 million) – which rises to 29% in NSW and 30% in Victoria.

“In addition, 3.2 million working Australians (21%) have had their working hours reduced, 2.3 million have had their business slow or stop completely (15%) and over 1 million have been stood down for a period of time (9%) and/or had no work available (7%).

“It’s important to understand that when the JobKeeper wage subsidy ends in April 2021 many employees that have had a changed employment situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic may well find themselves out of work as their employer adjusts to the economic reality without an ongoing wage subsidy.

“The Federal Budget set to be delivered by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in early October must provide a clear roadmap for the Australian economy to navigate the next few years including cutting excessive regulations, providing proper incentives for businesses to invest in growth and new employees and reducing high penalty rates that discourage businesses from opening on weekends and public holidays.”

(Roy Morgan)

August 26, 2020

Source: https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/8501-roy-morgan-coronavirus-crisis-impact-on-employment-july-2020-202008250212

MULTICOUNTRY STUDIES

652-653-43-28/Poll

Western public wary of many countries’ COVID figures

People in Europe and the United States are sceptical of the official numbers in China, Russia, US and Brazil

Compared to many other countries, China has not seen that many cases, especially when accounting for the size of its population. As of 6 August only 88,000 cases had been recorded in the country, compared to 4.82 million in the US, 2.86 million in Brazil, 1.96 million in India and 307,000 in the UK.

For this research into people’s perceptions about which countries have been hit hardest by the pandemic, YouGov showed respondents a list of 18 countries. We asked them to choose the four nations from this list that they thought had been worst affected by the coronavirus. Over the course of the survey fieldwork 11 of the other nations listed (12 for the countries with more recent fieldwork) had officially suffered more cases and greater numbers of deaths than China. Therefore, no-one answering should have picked China as part of their top four list.

However, in the European nations surveyed, between 26% and 39% included China in their top four. In the US this figure shot up to fully 85%, with 28% saying they thought it was the single worst affected country.

While the official figures during the course of the study fieldwork show China was between 23^rd-28^th in terms of total cases to date and between 22^nd-26^th in terms of total deaths, the public in the West view the situation differently. Ranking by the number of people including China in their top four worst affected, across the eight countries surveyed China comes between third and sixth overall.

By contrast, the public’s perception is in line with the official figures when it come to the United States. The US has seen the greatest recorded number of positive cases and deaths and in every country surveyed it was the most likely to be cited as the worst hit by the virus.

Brazil, Italy and Spain are generally seen as being the next hardest hit nations. While the perception about Brazil broadly matches the declared numbers, they tend to slightly overestimate the relative impact on Italy and Spain.

There are high levels of scepticism about official figures for many countries

The public in the West doubt the official figures from many countries. In all eight of the countries we studied a majority of people believed China had consciously under-reported its coronavirus numbers. It is a similar picture when it comes to Russia, with 46-60% thinking it is under-reporting its tallies and Brazil’s numbers are similarly distrusted (25-51%). The data also shows there is scepticism about the figures reported by the USA (26-52%).

The Spanish are particularly likely to think countries are trying to make out that their coronavirus situations are better than they actually are. This includes Spain itself; 47% of Spanish people believe their own government is not being upfront about how many COVID-19 cases and deaths there have been. No other country studied reached this level of self-skepticism; this could be a result of the Spanish government’s public attempts to change the way coronavirus deaths data was being reported.

The French and British are also more likely to be suspicious of their own governments’ figures, but to a much lesser extent than Spain.

(YouGov)

August 24, 2020

Source: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/international/articles-reports/2020/08/24/western-public-wary-many-countries-covid-figures

652-653-43-29/Poll

Females' Access to Health Services

This survey for Marie Stopes explored public perceptions on the availability of female health services before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in three countries – the UK, India and South Africa.

The survey also explored what barriers females experienced when they tried to access contraceptive or abortion services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perception of abortion services: In the UK, the percentage of women thinking that abortion services were available from a clinic dropped from 81% before the pandemic to just 21% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Perceived availability for abortions from a private clinic decreased in South Africa, from 76% to 43% and in India, from 61% to 44%.

The study was conducted for Marie Stopes.

Technical note

The research was conducted online on the Ipsos MORI Access Panel.
Online interviews were carried out amongst females aged 16-50 in the UK, India and South Africa
Our respondent base includes 1000 females in the UK who completed the survey between 29th July and 1st August 2020.
Our respondent base included 1000 females in India who completed the survey between 31st July and 10th August 2020.
Our respondent base included 1000 females in South Africa who completed the survey between 1st August and 11th August 2020.
The sample obtained is representative of the population with quotas on:

Age
Region

The UK data has been weighted to the known offline population profile by age, region, working status and education
The Indian data has been weighted to the known offline population profile by age, region and working status
The South African data has been weighted to the known offline population profile by age, region and education

(Ipsos MORI)

August 21, 2020

Source: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/females-access-health-services

652-653-43-30/Poll

Vehicle owners continue to show interest in self-driving technology despite COVID-19

A global Ipsos study reveals new vehicle owners desire for autonomous functionality in their next vehicle in Europe’s top five markets, US, China and Brazil.

As we move into the second half to the year, there are signals of a ‘new normal’ appearing. Many employers have encouraged their staff to work from home if possible, reducing the need to commute daily to an office. However, vehicle owners still have an interest in the latest technology and are willing to try it.

semi-autonomous feature experience We have found an increased number of new car buyers claim to have experienced semi-autonomous driving (driven or ridden) between 2019 and 2020 in each of the four key regions surveyed, including a +4pt uplift in Europe’s top five markets, up from 16% to 20%. Interest in autonomous driving is strongest in China and Brazil however, where consumers have the most semi-autonomous feature experience.

In Europe’s top five markets 32% of new car buyers claim to be interested in autonomous driving features. This is in line with the US (28%), but well below that of Brazil (61%) and China (77%), again where interest is stronger.

autonomous feature interest

Many countries have now reduced restrictions and their economies have responded. The automotive sector saw a strong bounce in retail sales in both May and June after a significant drop in March and April. In Ipsos’ newly released Module 1 Mobility Navigator Auto Global Study, we focused on key questions to monitor and track the progress of the recovery from COVID-19 through 2020.

In Europe’s top five markets, overall intention to buy a new car has fallen, with the big five markets down 7pts from 42% pre-COVID-19 to 35% based on the latest information from June. This decline in consumer demand is stronger than the US (4%) and China (3%) but has not fallen as sharply as in Brazil (9%). As we continue through 2020, retail sales will be a key focus as supply continues to decline and the uncertainty surrounding a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

vehicle intenders before

With one in three consumers in Europe’s top five markets still keen to buy, it suggests that the market may not be as depressed as had been feared. The main reason for continued vehicle demand is the safety and protection a personal vehicle can provide, rather than travelling via public transport. Interestingly, we see refusal to let the pandemic affect vehicle purchase plans as a second key reason.

purchase interest

COVID-19 is expanding the definition of vehicle safety with growing interest in a ‘safe environment’.

Before the coronavirus, consumers showed greatest interest in crash prevention (e.g., ADAS, warnings, alerts, etc.) and personal security (connectivity, cybersecurity, etc.) features, enhancing standard crash protection features.

Now, consumers want their vehicle to also provide a ‘safe environment’ that is as hygienic as possible and includes:
•   air filtration
•   antibacterial surfaces
•   methods to disinfect the interior

This enables the consumer to be in control of the vehicle to make the interior ‘clean and safe.’

Safety has always been an important factor in automotive decision making, but clearly that definition is changing and rising in importance. When striving to broaden the appeal of autonomous, a takeout for auto manufacturers is to be very aware of the average consumer’s mindset as they are increasingly focused on this now broader definition of safety . You can appeal to them by focusing on the safety benefits achieved with the accident avoidance features of autonomous driving mode and advanced driver assist features.

In the post-COVID-19 environment, there is limited funding to invest in new technology by the auto manufacturers. However, there is opportunity for auto manufacturers to appeal to consumers’ desire for new technology if those benefits are communicated as ‘safety’ and enable an auto manufacturer to be known for the latest technology such as autonomous or self-driving.

The Ipsos Mobility Navigator provides further insights through 2020, which automotive insiders can immediately use to capitalize on new consumer behaviours such as vehicle preferences, shift in public transportation/riding hailing usage, preferences on how to purchase a vehicle plus their expectations at a dealer to navigate the post-pandemic world.

Look for our next instalment when we focus on electrification in September 2020. We will again measure the impact of COVID-19 on vehicle and mobility usage.

About the Study

For this survey, Ipsos interviewed a total of 22,000 new vehicle owners aged 18-74 in the United States of America, China, Japan, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Russia and India.

Data collected are weighted so that each country’s sample composition best reflects the demographic profile of the adult population according to the country’s most recent census data. Data collected are also weighted to give each country an equal weight in the total “global” sample. Online surveys can be taken as representative of the general working age population in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United States. Online samples in Brazil, mainland China and India are more urban, educated, and/or affluent than the general population and the results should be viewed as reflecting the views of a more “connected” population.

(Ipsos MORI)

August 20, 2020

Source: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/vehicle-owners-continue-show-interest-self-driving-technology-despite-covid-19