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BUSINESS & POLITICS IN THE WORLD GLOBAL OPINION REPORT NO. 740-741 Week:
April 25 – May 08, 2022 Presentation:
May 13, 2022 740-741-43-39/Commentary:
Record 64% Of Japanese Want National Defense Bolstered Record
64% Of Japanese Want National Defense Bolstered Record
56% Of Japanese Voters Back Changes To Constitution Twitter
Users In India Are Mostly Happy With The Platform’s Acquisition By Elon Musk 36%
Of Turkish Consumers Prefer Market Brand Products Half
Of Lebanese Consider Migrating More
Than Two-Thirds Of Football Fans In Britain Think Racism Is A Problem In The
Sport Britons
Tend To Think Labour Would Better Manage The Cost Of Living And
Levelling Up Stop
And Search: How Do Ethnic Minority Britons Feel About Police Powers Majority
Of Britons Now Satisfied With Government Handling Of Russian Invasion Of
Ukraine By
40% To 23%, Britons Have An Unfavourable View Of Elon Musk Personally Local
Elections 2022: The Story From 16 Key Battleground Councils Fewer
Than Half Britons Recognise Some Of The Newly Identified Signs Of Covid 49%
Of The Employed Spanish Population Agree That They Love Their Job U S
Public Continues To View Grades, Test Scores As Top Factors In College
Admissions A
Third Of U S College Students Consider Withdrawing China’s
Partnership With Russia Seen As Serious Problem For The U S Parents’
Views Of Their Kids’ Screen Time, Social Media Use Changed During Covid-19 As
Telework Continues For Many U S Workers, No Sign Of Widespread Zoom Fatigue Highly
Religious Americans Are Much More Likely To Say That This Technology Crosses
The Line (72%) Working
Moms In The U S Have Faced Challenges On Multiple Fronts During The Pandemic 61%
Of People In The United States Say The Spread Of Misinformation About The War
Is A Major Problem Six
In Ten (63%) Canadians Who Don’t Own A Home Have Given Up On Ever Owning One Mums
To Be Spoiled On Mother’s Day With $754 Million To Be Spent On Gifts ANZ
Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence Up 6.5pts To 84.4 In April 2022 London
Maintains Top “City Brand” Ranking From 2020 To 2022 Among Cities Of 10
Countries Europeans
express strong support for a greener energy market, survey among 7 countries A
YouGov Poll In 18 Countries Around The World About Celebrating Mother's Day INTRODUCTORY NOTE 740-741-43-39/Commentary: Record 64% Of Japanese Want National
Defense Bolstered
A record
high 64 percent of voters believe Japan should strengthen its defensive
capabilities, according to a survey conducted after Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine. By contrast,
only 10 percent of respondents opposed the idea of Japan bolstering its
defenses, the survey, jointly conducted by The Asahi Shimbun and the office
of Masaki Taniguchi, a professor at the University of Tokyo, showed. Respondents
were asked to choose from five answers to the question on whether Japan
should increase its defensive capacity. For the
first time since such surveys started in 2003, the ratio of those who either
“support” or “rather support” the idea of heightened Japanese
defense topped 60 percent. Ten percent
either “oppose” or “rather oppose” Japan bolstering its defenses, while 26
percent were neutral on the issue. The Russian
invasion of Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24, likely had an impact on
Japanese views toward defense of their country. Survey
questionnaires were sent on March 15 to 3,000 randomly selected eligible
voters across Japan. Sixty-three percent, or 1,892 of them, replied by April
25. In the
survey in 2003, when the Iraq war started, 48 percent of respondents either
“supported” or “rather supported” the idea of Japan increasing its defensive
capabilities. The ratio
rose to 57 percent at the end of 2012, when territorial disputes were
threatening Japan’s relations with China and South Korea. The figure
had been hovering around 50 percent or higher since the Liberal Democratic
Party returned to power in December 2012. The latest
surge indicates Japanese voters perceive Russia’s military actions against
Ukraine as more of a threat to them. The survey
also showed a record percentage of voters supporting the continued operations
of nuclear power plants since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered by
the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. Respondents
were again given five options on whether they felt “nuclear power stations
should be immediately abolished” or “they should be retained in the future as
an energy source.” Those who
felt nuclear power plants should be abolished dropped to 32 percent from 40
percent in the previous poll conducted in spring 2020. Thirty-nine
percent of respondents said they should be retained, up from the previous 32
percent. Twenty-nine
percent were neutral about the issue, unchanged from the previous poll. “The survey
results suggest that voters’ sentiment is now closer to that of conservative
political parties, including the LDP, of which Diet members are likely to
support strengthening Japan’s defense capabilities or restarting nuclear
power plants,” Taniguchi said. “Until now,
voters and conservative political parties embraced different views on these
issues. I guess the major factor for the change is that the Russian invasion
of Ukraine has made people more alarmed about security or energy issues,” he
said. The survey
results also showed that voters have become more nervous about where the
economy is heading. The COVID-19
pandemic, which has continued for more than two years, has increased voters’
calls for more government spending, the poll suggests. A record 58
percent of respondents supported the statement: “The government should
implement fiscal stimulus measures to revitalize the economy for the time
being, and not suppress public spending in order to rebuild government
finances.” The figure
was higher than 50 percent in the previous survey, which was conducted during
the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ratio
was also 50 percent in the 2009 survey conducted just after the financial
crisis sparked by the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers. It
inched up to 52 percent in the 2012 survey following the Great East Japan
Earthquake. (Asahi
Shimbun) May 2, 2022 Source: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14612368 740-741-43-39/Country Profile:
SUMMARY
OF POLLS
ASIA (Japan) Record 64% Of Japanese Want National Defense Bolstered A record high 64 percent of voters
believe Japan should strengthen its defensive capabilities, according to a
survey conducted after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. By contrast, only 10
percent of respondents opposed the idea of Japan bolstering its defenses, the
survey, jointly conducted by The Asahi Shimbun and the office of Masaki
Taniguchi, a professor at the University of Tokyo, showed. (Asahi Shimbun) May 2, 2022 Record 56% Of Japanese Voters Back Changes To Constitution A record high 56 percent of Japanese voters
feel a need to change the pacifist Constitution, a reflection of growing
concerns that the country could fall victim to a military invasion, a survey
showed. Thirty-seven percent of respondents to the nationwide survey
conducted by The Asahi Shimbun said there was no need to change Japan’s
supreme laws. Survey questionnaires were mailed out to 3,000 eligible voters,
and valid responses were received from 1,892 by April 25. (Asahi Shimbun) May 3, 2022 (India) Twitter Users In India Are Mostly Happy With The Platform’s
Acquisition By Elon Musk Last week Twitter announced its acquisition
by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for $44 billion. Since the acquisition,
Musk who is an ardent Twitter user has made quite a few remarks about what he
intends to do with the platform, spawning a whirlwind of conversations and
reactions from Indian netizens. YouGov’s latest data shows that close to two
in five (37%) of Twitter users in India are happy about the platform's
acquisition by Elon Musk, with urban Indian millennial users being most
likely to say this ( at 43%). (YouGov India) May 5, 2022 (Turkey) 36% Of Turkish Consumers Prefer Market Brand Products With the spread of discount markets, it is
stated that people prefer these markets because they are close to their
homes, with 65%. Other prominent reasons are that the prices in these markets
are cheap and the promotions are high. All three reasons are stated at a
higher rate than in 2020. The rate of those who prefer these sales points
because these markets like their own brands is 34%.36% of consumers prefer
market brand products and the rate of those who prefer market brands
increases by 3 points compared to 2018. (Ipsos Turkey) 25 April 2022 (Pakistan) A Sweeping 84% Of Pakistanis Believe Peace And Quietness
Are Important Determining Factors When Deciding The Vacation Destination 84% of Pakistanis believe peace and
quietness are important determining factors when deciding the vacation
destination. A nationally representative sample of adult men and women from
across Pakistan was asked the following question, “How important are peace
and quietness when deciding about your travel destination?”. In response to
this question, 1% said not important at all, 2% said somewhat not important,
13% said neutral, 29% said somewhat important and 55% said very important. (Gallup Pakistan) May 6, 2022 MENA (Lebanon) Half Of Lebanese Consider Migrating About half citizens (48 percent) are
seeking to leave their homeland for better opportunities abroad. Yet, when
asked about the primary reason for wanting to emigrate, economic conditions
(7 percent) are not the dominant reason given. Instead, the most commonly
named reason is corruption (44 percent), followed by security considerations
(29 percent), and political reasons (22 percent), implying citizens are even
more frustrated by the failure of the political system which ultimately led
to the financial crisis. (Arabbarometer) April 26, 2022 WEST
EUROPE (UK) More Than Two-Thirds Of Football Fans In Britain Think
Racism Is A Problem In The Sport New polling by Ipsos, taken April 8-11th
this year, explores public attitudes to racism in sport. Both the general
public and fans of football, rugby union and cricket were asked their views
about the significance of racism as a problem in each sport and whether
enough was being done to tackle it. 46% of Britons describe themselves as
fans of football, 26% of rugby union and 20% of cricket. (Ipsos MORI) 28 April 2022 Britons Tend To Think Labour Would Better Manage The
Cost Of Living And Levelling Up By 38% to 20% Britons think that a Labour
government led by Keir Starmer, would be better suited to managing the
ongoing cost of living crisis than a Conservative government under Johnson. A
further quarter (26%) say neither and 16% are unsure. While half (50%) of
2019 Conservative voters think that a Johnson-led government would be best at
dealing with the cost of living, one in nine (11%) think that Labour with
Keir Starmer at the helm would be better. (YouGov UK) April 28, 2022 Most Britons Support Including The Number Of Calories That
Are In A Meal On Food Menus (54%), Compared To A Third (33%) Who Oppose It New YouGov data reveals that most Britons
support including the number of calories that are in a meal on food menus
(54%), compared to a third (33%) who oppose it. This said, there are
significant age splits on the policy, with 18-29 year olds less likely to
support the policy than those from older groups. The under-30s are closely
divided, with 45% supportive and 41% opposed, while a majority in all older
age groups back the policy (52-60%), with only a third or fewer opposed
(28-35%). (YouGov UK) April 28, 2022 Stop And Search: How Do Ethnic Minority Britons Feel About
Police Powers New YouGov research shows that ethnic
minority Britons are much less likely to support the power of the police to
use stop and search than white Britons. While they still support stop and
search by 53% to 34%, this is 20 points lower than the 73% support among
white Britons. Although showing relatively high levels of support for police
powers to use stop and search, ethnic minority Britons oppose expanding such
powers, including the ability to search people they do not suspect of
committing a crime, by 58% to 29%. (YouGov UK) April 29, 2022 Majority Of Britons Now Satisfied With Government Handling
Of Russian Invasion Of Ukraine The latest Ipsos Political Monitor, taken
April 20th to 28th this year shows increased public approval for the
government’s handling of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 58% are now
satisfied with how the government is handling the situation (up 12 points
from March) and 30% are dissatisfied (down 8 points). 56% think the
government is doing the right amount in terms of diplomatic support for Ukraine. 26%
say too little is being done. 3% say too much and 15% say don’t know. (Ipsos MORI) 3 May 2022 By 40% To 23%, Britons Have An Unfavourable View Of Elon
Musk Personally Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and
currently the richest person in the world, has announced he is in the process
of buying the social media platform Twitter for $44 billion. By 40% to 23%, Britons have an unfavourable
view of Elon Musk personally, though 37% don’t know enough about him to give
an opinion either way. He is also unpopular with Twitter users, with 49%
holding a negative opinion of him compared to 27% with a positive view. (YouGov UK) May 04, 2022 Local Elections 2022: The Story From 16 Key Battleground
Councils YouGov has polled voters in 16 key
battleground English councils to establish current voting intention – and how
it has changed since 2018. Tomorrow, voters up and down the United Kingdom
will head to the polls in a series of local authority, parish, and mayoral
elections. On top of this, elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly will
take place on the same day. (YouGov UK) May 05, 2022 Fewer Than Half Britons Recognise Some Of The Newly
Identified Signs Of Covid In April, the UK’s Health Security
Agency updated its guidance to include several new signs of
COVID-19 infection. Close to nine in ten (87%) correctly identify exhaustion
or excessive tiredness as a symptom, as do 84% who rightly say shortness of
breath is a symptom. Another 78% are right in thinking aches and sore throats
are now symptoms of COVID-19. (YouGov UK) May 05, 2022 More Than 1 In 4 Football And Rugby Union Fans Think Not
Enough Being Done To Prevent Concussions In The Professional Game In a nationally representative poll of
2,051 British adults aged 16-75, Ipsos interviewed 921 football fans, 519
rugby union fans and 447 fans of cricket. In total, more than one in four
football fans (28%) thought not enough was being done to prevent concussions
in football. Meanwhile, 29% and 20% of rugby union and cricket fans thought
not enough was being done in rugby union and cricket respectively. (Ipsos MORI) 6 May 2022 (France) 77% Of French People Believe That Medical Biology
Laboratories Are Increasingly Being Taken Over By Large Financial Groups Twenty years ago, there were no financial
groups in clinical medical biology in France. Today, 6 financial groups own 67% of these urban medical
biology companies. From 2005 to 2021, with successive
takeovers, the number of city laboratories was practically divided by 10,
going from 3,991 companies to 412 on national territory1. Tomorrow, it
will be the turn of pharmacists, veterinarians, radiologists, etc… all those involved in local medicine. May 5, 2022 (Spain) 49% Of The Employed Spanish Population Agree That They Love
Their Job The first of May marks the International Workers' Day , in
commemoration of the labor movement worldwide and for this occasion, from
YouGov we have analyzed whether Spaniards are happy or not within their own
work. Faced with the statement "I love my job", 49% of the employed Spanish population agree ,
while 19% say the opposite. The remaining 32% are neither in favor nor
against this statement. (YouGov Spain) NORTH AMERICA (USA) In CDC Survey, 37% Of U S High School Students Report
Regular Mental Health Struggles During Covid-19 Overall, 37% of students at public and
private high schools reported that their mental health was not good most or
all of the time during the pandemic, according to the CDC’s Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey, which was fielded from January to June
2021. In the survey, “poor mental health” includes stress, anxiety and
depression. About three-in-ten high school students (31%) said they
experienced poor mental health most or all of the time in the 30 days before
the survey. In addition, 44% said that, in the previous 12 months, they felt
sad or hopeless almost every day for at least two weeks in a row such that
they stopped doing some usual activities. (PEW) APRIL 25, 2022 U S Public Continues To View Grades, Test Scores As Top
Factors In College Admissions More than nine-in-ten Americans (93%) say
high school grades should be at least a minor factor in admissions decisions,
including 61% who say they should be a major factor. Grades are, by far, the
criteria the public says should most factor into admissions decisions. This
is followed by standardized test scores (39% major factor, 46% minor factor)
and community service involvement (19% major, 48% minor), according to a Pew
Research Center survey conducted March 7-13, 2022. (PEW) APRIL 26, 2022 A Third Of U S College Students Consider Withdrawing About a third (32%) of currently enrolled
students pursuing a bachelor's degree report they have considered withdrawing
from their program for a semester or more in the past six months. A slightly
higher percentage of students pursuing their associate degree, 41%, report
they have considered stopping out in the past six months. These are similar
to 2020 levels when 33% of bachelor's degree students reported they had
considered stopping out and 38% of associate degree students said the same. (Gallup) China’s Partnership With Russia Seen As Serious Problem For
The U S As war rages in Ukraine – one which China thus far has refused to
condemn –
Americans are acutely concerned about the partnership between China and
Russia. Around nine-in-ten U.S. adults say it’s at least a somewhat serious
problem for the United States, and a 62% majority say it’s a very serious problem – more than
say the same about any of the other six problems asked about, including
China’s involvement in politics in the U.S., its policies on human rights and
tensions between China and Taiwan, among others. (PEW) APRIL 28, 2022 Parents’ Views Of Their Kids’ Screen Time, Social Media Use
Changed During Covid-19 When Pew Research Center fielded a survey of U.S. parents at the beginning of March 2020, we
knew the conversation around children and technology was at the forefront of many parents’ minds. Among the
four social media sites the survey covered, the largest share of parents
reported that the young child they were asked about used TikTok: 21% said
this in April 2021, up from 13% in 2020. There were small changes in the share
saying their child used Instagram or Facebook, while Snapchat use stayed
virtually the same. (PEW) APRIL 28, 2022 About A Quarter Of Latino Adults Say They Have Personally
Experienced Discrimination Or Unfair Treatment From Other Latinos Latinos experience discrimination in
different ways. In 2021, 23% of Latino Spanish speakers said they had been
criticized for speaking Spanish in public, and 20% of all Latinos said they
were called offensive names in the last 12 months. Sometimes, Latinos
themselves discriminate against other Latinos or make racially insensitive
comments or jokes about other Latinos. (PEW) MAY 2, 2022 As Telework Continues For Many U S Workers, No Sign Of
Widespread Zoom Fatigue As remote work continues for many Americans, more than half of workers who say their
jobs can mainly be done from home say they often use online platforms to
connect with co-workers (56%). Most of these workers say they are fine with
the amount of time they spend on video calls, but about one-in-four say they
are worn out by it, according to a January 2022 Pew Research Center survey. (PEW) MAY 4, 2022 Highly Religious Americans Are Much More Likely To Say That
This Technology Crosses The Line (72%) Among U.S. adults with a high level of
religious commitment, 81% say that the widespread use of computer chip brain
implants for faster and more accurate information processing would be
“meddling with nature and crosses a line we should not cross.” In contrast,
Americans with a low level of religious commitment are evenly divided on this
question: 50% say that brain chip implants cross a line that should not be
crossed, and 49% more closely identify with the notion that “we are always
trying to better ourselves and this idea is no different.” (PEW) MAY 4, 2022 Gallup Found Just 9% Of Non-College Americans Believe
Quality, Affordable Higher Education Is Available To All Americans Who Want
It About a third of U.S. adults who have not
completed a postsecondary degree believe higher education is available to
most Americans who want it. In the 2022 State of Higher Education Study
conducted by Lumina Foundation, Gallup found just 9% of noncollege Americans
believe quality, affordable higher education is available to all Americans
who want it, and another 21% believe it is available to most. More than
two-thirds (71%) of respondents believe no more than half of Americans have
access to quality education beyond high school. (Gallup) MAY 4, 2022 Working Moms In The U S Have Faced Challenges On Multiple
Fronts During The Pandemic In the early months of the pandemic, there
was an increase in the share of mothers who said they preferred not to work
for pay at all. In an October 2020 survey, about a quarter (27%) of mothers with
children younger than 18 at home said that at that point in their life, the
best work arrangement for them personally would be not working for pay at
all, up from 19% who said so in a summer 2019 survey. The share of mothers who said working
full time would be best for them dropped from 51% to 44% during that span,
while around three-in-ten in both surveys said they would prefer to work
part-time. (PEW) MAY 6, 2022 61% Of People In The United States Say The Spread Of
Misinformation About The War Is A Major Problem A new poll from The
Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows 61% of people in the United
States say the spread of misinformation about the war is a major problem,
with only 7% saying it’s not a problem. Older adults were more likely to
identify the wartime misinformation as an issue, with 44% of those under 30
calling it a problem, compared with 65% of those 30 or older. (AP News) April 28, 2022 (Canada) Six In Ten (63%) Canadians Who Don’t Own A Home Have Given
Up On Ever Owning One With the price of homes in Canada
skyrocketing over the past two years, the dream of home ownership is slipping
away from those not already in the market. According to a new Ipsos poll
conducted exclusively for Global News, six in ten (63%) Canadians who don’t
already own a home agree (23% strongly/40% somewhat) that they have given up on ever owning a home. (Ipsos Canada) 29 April 2022 One In Three (32%) Working Canadians Say They’d Look For
Another Job If Their Employer Forced Them To Work Exclusively At The
Office/Workplace One in three (32%) say that they’d look for
another job if their employer forced them to work exclusively from the
office, a sentiment more widely held among those aged 18-34 (42%) than those
aged 35-54 (29%) and 55+ (22%). Residents of Quebec (39%) are most likely to
say so, followed by those living in Atlantic Canada (33%), Ontario (32%),
British Columbia (30%), Alberta (23%) and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (21%). (Ipsos Canada) 6 May 2022 AUSTRALIA Mums To Be Spoiled On Mother’s Day With $754 Million To Be
Spent On Gifts People who plan on buying a gift will spend
an average amount of $80, with 90% planning to spend the same or more than
they did last year. Flowers are set to be the most popular gift,
mentioned by 34% of Australians surveyed, followed by alcohol and food (23%)
and clothing, shoes and sleepwear (mentioned by 11% of Australians).Around a
quarter of Australians (24%) will be purchasing gifts for people who aren’t
their birth mother, including mothers-in-law, wives or partners and other
family members. (Roy Morgan) April 25 2022 (New Zealand) ANZ Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence Up 6.5pts To
84.4 In April 2022 The proportion of people who believe it is
a ‘good time to buy a major household item’ increased slightly to 27% while
exactly half of New Zealanders, 50%, say now is a ‘bad time to buy a major
household item’. Inflation expectations fell back to 5.6%. House price
inflation expectations eased from 2.7% to just 1.7%. A net 4% expect to be
better off this time next year, up 13 points. Back in the black – it’s very
unusual for this series to be negative, as it has been for the past two
months. (Roy Morgan) April 29 2022 MULTICOUNTRY STUDIES London Maintains Top “City Brand” Ranking From 2020 To 2022
Among Cities Of 10 Countries London preserves its spot as the world’s
most admired city in the 2022 edition of the Anholt-Ipsos City Brands
Index. Paris, Sydney, New York, and Rome round out the top-5, but
there has been some movement in the bottom half of the top-10
cities,Washington D.C. advances from 13th to sixth
and Barcelona moves to the top-10 with a seventh-place ranking
after placing 14th in 2020. Toronto jumps to eighth after placing 12th
in 2020 and Tokyo regains its top-10 placement, landing in ninth,
after missing the top-10 in 2020 (#16). (Ipsos Australia) 25 April 2022 Source: https://www.ipsos.com/en-au/anholt-ipsos-city-brands-index-2022 61% Of Respondents Worldwide Think The War In Ukraine Poses
A Significant Risk To Their Country, A 27 Country Study A new Ipsos survey reveals that on average
across 27 countries, 70% of adults say they closely follow the news about
Russia's invasion of Ukraine and 61% think it poses a significant risk to
their country. The majorities in each of the countries surveyed are in
favor of welcoming Ukrainian refugees and opposed to military involvement in
the conflict. However, opinions on economic sanctions and the supply of
arms to the Ukrainian army differ widely from country to country. (Ipsos France) April 27, 2022 Europeans express strong support for a greener energy
market, survey among 7 countries Support for greener energy is also likely
to be driven, in part, by the financial impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict
and the resulting rise in energy bills, rather than the real need to address
the climate issue. In all the countries surveyed, the majority of the
population would support a government policy that establishes renewable
energy as the only option. The Italians (80%) and the Spanish (75%)
especially support this initiative. The Germans, on the other hand, are
the least convinced, since only 53% support this policy. (YouGov Spain) Source: https://es.yougov.com/news/2022/05/02/eurotrack-los-europeos-expresan-un-amplio-apoyo-un/ Public Opinion In The 6 European Union States Believes That
The Eu Should Be Responsible For Climate Change Policy There is a strong consensus among Europeans
that different countries should work together to tackle the issue of climate
change and any solution will be more effective if multilateral. In Spain they
strongly believe that the EU should be responsible for these decisions, with
68% of Spaniards preferring this type of approach. This is also the
opinion of 58% of Italians, most of the French (55%) and half of the Germans
(52%). The Nordic nations surveyed, Denmark (52%) and Sweden (48%) also support
the EU's decision-making power on climate change. (YouGov Italy) Source: https://it.yougov.com/news/2022/05/03/gli-europei-affermano-lue-dovrebbe-guidare-la-rifo/ Globally, One In Three (35%) Internet Users
Are Likely To Invest In Bitcoin Or Another Cryptocurrency As A Short-Term
Investment, A Survey In 20 Economies Globally, one in three (35%) internet users
are likely to invest in Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency as a short-term
investment (USA 24%; Canada 17%). While only 10% say they’re very likely to
do so, another 25% are somewhat likely to do so, indicating some level of
interest in this form of investment. Similar proportions are likely to invest
in cryptocurrencies as a speculative long-term investment (36% country
average; 24% USA; 19% Canada). (Ipsos Canada) 3 May 2022 Source: https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/news-polls/americans-more-likely-than-canadians-to-invest-in-bitcoin A YouGov Poll In 18 Countries Around The World About
Celebrating Mother's Day Mother's Day is celebrated in Germany every
second Sunday in May, this year on the coming Sunday, May 8th. The
Poles, at 85 percent worldwide, are by far the most likely to think that
Mother's Day is still celebrated for the right reasons. Only 10 percent
think this tag is too commercialized. Aside from Poland, the view that
Mother's Day is still celebrated as a 'proper' special occasion is least
widespread in European countries. The Danes are the most skeptical: only
27 percent of respondents in Denmark agree with the above statement. (YouGov Germany) May 6, 2022 Source: https://yougov.de/news/2022/05/06/laut-den-europaern-ist-der-muttertag-zu-kommerzial/ ASIA
740-741-43-01/Polls Record 64% Of Japanese Want National Defense Bolstered
A record high 64 percent of voters
believe Japan should strengthen its defensive capabilities, according to a
survey conducted after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. By contrast, only 10 percent of respondents
opposed the idea of Japan bolstering its defenses, the survey, jointly
conducted by The Asahi Shimbun and the office of Masaki Taniguchi, a
professor at the University of Tokyo, showed. Respondents were asked to choose from five
answers to the question on whether Japan should increase its defensive
capacity. For the first time since such surveys
started in 2003, the ratio of those who either “support” or “rather support”
the idea of heightened Japanese defense topped 60 percent. Ten percent either “oppose” or “rather
oppose” Japan bolstering its defenses, while 26 percent were neutral on the
issue. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which
started on Feb. 24, likely had an impact on Japanese views toward defense of
their country. Survey questionnaires were sent on March 15
to 3,000 randomly selected eligible voters across Japan. Sixty-three percent,
or 1,892 of them, replied by April 25. In the survey in 2003, when the Iraq war
started, 48 percent of respondents either “supported” or “rather supported”
the idea of Japan increasing its defensive capabilities. The ratio rose to 57 percent at the end of
2012, when territorial disputes were threatening Japan’s relations with China
and South Korea. The figure had been hovering around 50
percent or higher since the Liberal Democratic Party returned to power in
December 2012. The latest surge indicates Japanese voters
perceive Russia’s military actions against Ukraine as more of a threat to
them. The survey also showed a record percentage
of voters supporting the continued operations of nuclear power plants since
the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered by the Great East Japan
Earthquake and tsunami. Respondents were again given five options
on whether they felt “nuclear power stations should be immediately abolished”
or “they should be retained in the future as an energy source.” Those who felt nuclear power plants should
be abolished dropped to 32 percent from 40 percent in the previous poll
conducted in spring 2020. Thirty-nine percent of respondents said
they should be retained, up from the previous 32 percent. Twenty-nine percent were neutral about the
issue, unchanged from the previous poll. “The survey results suggest that voters’
sentiment is now closer to that of conservative political parties, including
the LDP, of which Diet members are likely to support strengthening Japan’s
defense capabilities or restarting nuclear power plants,” Taniguchi said. “Until now, voters and conservative
political parties embraced different views on these issues. I guess the major
factor for the change is that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has made people
more alarmed about security or energy issues,” he said. The survey results also showed that voters
have become more nervous about where the economy is heading. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has continued
for more than two years, has increased voters’ calls for more government
spending, the poll suggests. A record 58 percent of respondents
supported the statement: “The government should implement fiscal stimulus
measures to revitalize the economy for the time being, and not suppress
public spending in order to rebuild government finances.” The figure was higher than 50 percent in
the previous survey, which was conducted during the first wave of the
COVID-19 pandemic. The ratio was also 50 percent in the 2009
survey conducted just after the financial crisis sparked by the collapse of
U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers. It inched up to 52 percent in the 2012
survey following the Great East Japan Earthquake. (Asahi Shimbun) May 2, 2022 Source: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14612368 740-741-43-02/Polls Record 56% Of Japanese Voters Back Changes To Constitution
A record high 56 percent of Japanese voters
feel a need to change the pacifist Constitution, a reflection of growing
concerns that the country could fall victim to a military invasion, a survey
showed. Thirty-seven percent of respondents to the
nationwide survey conducted by The Asahi Shimbun said there was no need to change
Japan’s supreme laws. Survey questionnaires were mailed out to
3,000 eligible voters, and valid responses were received from 1,892 by April
25. Although the questions were slightly
reworded from previous surveys, 56 percent is the highest ratio in support of
revising the Constitution since mailed questionnaires centered on
constitutional issues were first sent out in 2013. In last year’s survey, 45 percent said
there was a need to change the Constitution, while 44 percent said there was
no such need. The latest survey also found that 59
percent of respondents said there was no need to revise war-renouncing
Article 9, while 33 percent felt that article should be amended. In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
that started in late February, the survey asked respondents if their
concerns have increased about a possible military conflict erupting between
Japan and a neighboring nation. Eighty percent of respondents said they
felt greater worries, while only 19 percent said they felt no difference. Of those who were more concerned, 60
percent said the Constitution should be changed, while 34 percent said there
is no need. A majority of respondents also favored a
2012 proposal by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to amend the Constitution
to allow the prime minister to declare a state of emergency and the Cabinet
to order a temporary restriction on the rights of the public to deal with a
major natural disaster or military invasion. Fifty-nine percent of voters said the
Constitution should be changed to respond to major emergencies along the
lines proposed by the LDP, while 34 percent said there was no need for such a
revision. Respondents were also asked to choose
between two alternatives for dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic. Sixty-eight percent of respondents felt
closer to the first option of doing everything to control new infections even
if that meant restricting individual rights. Twenty percent chose the other
option of putting priority on protecting individual rights. In last year’s survey, 83 percent felt
closer to the first option, while only 10 percent sided with the second
option. This summer’s Upper House election could
affect future Diet discussions about the Constitution. The conservative Nippon Ishin (Japan
Innovation Party) is seeking to gain the largest number of votes in the
proportional representation constituency this summer among the opposition
parties. According to the survey, 66 percent of
respondents who said they would likely vote for Nippon Ishin in the proportional
representation constituency called for changing the Constitution, exceeding
even the 57 percent of LDP backers who cited the need for revisions. Only about 40 percent of respondents who
said they would vote for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party
of Japan or the Japanese Communist Party said there was a need to change the
Constitution. (Asahi Shimbun) May 3, 2022 Source: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14612968 740-741-43-03/Polls Twitter Users In India Are Mostly Happy With The Platform’s
Acquisition By Elon Musk
A majority believes Twitter will become the
most powerful social medium under Musk’s leadership Last week Twitter announced its acquisition
by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for $44 billion. Since the acquisition,
Musk who is an ardent Twitter user has made quite a few remarks about what he
intends to do with the platform, spawning a whirlwind of conversations and
reactions from Indian netizens. YouGov’s latest data shows that close to two
in five (37%) of Twitter users in India are happy about the platform's
acquisition by Elon Musk, with urban Indian millennial users being most
likely to say this ( at 43%).
While three in ten of those who use Twitter
in India (29%) are surprised by this move, a fifth (22%) remained unaffected
by the news. The numbers for those who express negative emotions like worry,
sadness and anger and those who are unaware of the acquisition, are much
lower (8% and 5%, respectively). Talking about the anticipated user
behaviour as a result of the change in leadership, close to two-thirds (64%)
of those who currently use Twitter say they will continue using the platform
as always.
Only a small proportion of Twitter users
plan to make changes like modifying their behaviour on the platform (8%) or
switching to other social media platforms (16%). While men are more likely
than women to say they plan to stick to their regular usage (66% vs 61%),
women are more inclined toward modifying their behaviour on the platform (11%
women vs 5% men). In India, the Twitter community is not just
happy with Elon Musk acquiring the platform, they also believe in his
leadership. Data shows that a majority (61%) of Twitter users in India agree
with the statement- “Twitter will
become the most powerful social media platform under Elon Musk's
leadership". Again, we see that Millennial (70%) users
are strong advocates of this view than Gen X (54%) and Gen Z (59%). This is
surely good news for the company as the global Twitter audience is mostly
composed of users from this cohort.
Elon Musk (who has more than 83 million
followers on Twitter), who himself is a free speech absolutist, has
repeatedly said in recent times that he wants to “transform” the platform
by promoting more free speech and giving users more control. When Twitter
members in India were asked how the potential removal of moderation would
affect the future of the platform, almost half agreed this move may make the
platform a place for healthy debates and free speech(49%). Half of this
number (26%) think otherwise and believe this could encourage hate speech and
misinformation. While 14% remained unsure, slightly over one in ten (11%)
believe moderation may have no drastic impact on the platform.
(YouGov India) May 5, 2022 Source: https://in.yougov.com/en-hi/news/2022/05/05/twitter-users-india-are-mostly-happy-platforms-acq/ 740-741-43-04/Polls 36% Of Turkish Consumers Prefer Market Brand Products
Featured in Preferring Discount Markets; 3
Reasons. Being Close to Home, Promotion and Affordable Price With the spread of discount markets, it is
stated that people prefer these markets because they are close to their
homes, with 65%. Other prominent reasons are that the prices in these markets
are cheap and the promotions are high. All three reasons are stated at a
higher rate than in 2020. The rate of those who prefer these sales points
because these markets like their own brands is 34%.
The Preference of Market Branded Products
Increases 36% of consumers prefer market brand
products and the rate of those who prefer market brands increases by 3 points
compared to 2018. And 4 out of 10 people go to that particular store to buy
the brands they use.
Consumers' Tendency to Buy Expensive Brands
Decreasing Until 2018, the rate of those who said that
they would buy the brand I wanted, even if it was a bit expensive, was at the
level of 50%, but today this rate has decreased to 39%. It is seen that
consumers who move away from expensive brands are starting to shift to cheap
products. While the preference for cheap products was 26% in 2018-2020, it is
31% in 2022.
Consumers Are Moving Away From Prestigious
Products As consumers prefer cheap products, the
preference for prestigious products is also decreasing. While 4 out of 10
people state that they will prefer prestigious products until 2020, the rate
of those who prefer these products has been decreasing since 2020. When it
comes to today, the rate of those who prefer the prestigious genre has
decreased by about 10 points compared to 2018 and has decreased to 28%.
Sidar Gedik, CEO of Ipsos Turkey, made the
following evaluations about the data; Due to inflation, a significant part of
the citizens state that their income and purchasing power have decreased. In general, the fact that no improvement is
expected in this area in the next few months is also directly reflected in
shopping behaviors. Our main observation is that price sensitivity has
increased. Consumers began to shift towards cheap products rather than their
usual preferences. Therefore, paying more attention to the performance of the
product and the price-performance balance before prestige and brand value
stands out as an economic precautionary behavior. In this context, there has
been an increase in the tendency towards discount markets and market branded
products recently. (Ipsos Turkey) 25 April 2022 Source: https://www.ipsos.com/tr-tr/pahali-markalari-satin-alma-egilimi-azaliyor 740-741-43-05/Polls A Sweeping 84% Of Pakistanis Believe Peace And Quietness Are
Important Determining Factors When Deciding The Vacation Destination
According to a survey conducted by Gallup
& Gilani Pakistan, a sweeping 84% of Pakistanis believe peace and
quietness are important determining factors when deciding the vacation
destination. A nationally representative sample of adult men and women from
across Pakistan was asked the following question, “How important are peace
and quietness when deciding about your travel destination?”. In response to
this question, 1% said not important at all, 2% said somewhat not important,
13% said neutral, 29% said somewhat important and 55% said very important.
Question: “How important are peace and quietness when deciding about your
travel destination?”
The study was released by Gilani Research Foundation
and carried out by Gallup & Gilani Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of
Gallup International. The recent survey was carried out among a sample of 856
men and women in urban and rural areas of all four provinces of the country
in 2020. The error margin is estimated to be approximately ± 2-3 percent at
the 95% confidence level. The methodology used for data collection was CATI. (Gallup Pakistan) May 6, 2022 Source: https://gallup.com.pk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/6-May-2022-English.pdf MENA
740-741-43-06/Polls Half Of Lebanese Consider Migrating
Lebanese are the most pessimistic about
their country’s economic future of any country surveyed in Arab Barometer’s sixth wave between 2020 and the spring of 2021.
Among all the economic worries, the rising cost of living is seen as the
biggest challenge. Unsurprisingly, about half citizens (48 percent) are
seeking to leave their homeland for better opportunities abroad. Yet, when
asked about the primary reason for wanting to emigrate, economic conditions
(7 percent) are not the dominant reason given. Instead, the most commonly
named reason is corruption (44 percent), followed by security considerations
(29 percent), and political reasons (22 percent), implying citizens are even
more frustrated by the failure of the political system which ultimately led
to the financial crisis.
Unlike in most countries surveyed, there is
not a significant gender gap in the desire to emigrate, with 49 percent of
men and 46 percent of women wanting to leave their homeland. However, nearly
two-thirds (63 percent) of youth ages 18-29 want to leave, presumably due to
the lack of hope they have for their futures. Lebanon is also at risk for
brain drain, with 61 percent of those with a college education wanting to
emigrate compared with 37 percent of those with a secondary degree or less.
Lebanon’s mounting economic crisis pushed
around 80
percent of the population into poverty, fueling an influx of migration,
including undocumented migration via risky sea routes. In the fall of
2018, 26 percent of Lebanese citizens said they wanted to leave their
homeland. Arab
Barometer asked
the potential Lebanese migrants if they would migrate even if they
lacked the necessary papers to allow them to do so. 12 percent of
potential migrants in Lebanon said they are willing to leave the country
without the proper documents, with men slightly more likely to do so compared
to women (14 percent vs 9 percent respectively).
(Arabbarometer) April 26, 2022 Source: https://www.arabbarometer.org/2022/04/what-lebanese-citizens-think-about-migration/ WEST
EUROPE
740-741-43-07/Polls More Than Two-Thirds Of Football Fans In Britain Think Racism Is A
Problem In The Sport
New polling by Ipsos, taken April 8-11th this year, explores public attitudes
to racism in sport. Both the general public and fans of football, rugby union
and cricket were asked their views about the significance of racism as a
problem in each sport and whether enough was being done to tackle it. 46% of
Britons describe themselves as fans of football, 26% of rugby union and 20%
of cricket. Racism and football Almost two-thirds of the general public (64%) consider racism to be a
problem in professional football, including 3 in 10 (29%) who say it is a
very big problem, rising to 37% amongst ethnic minority Britons. Only 24% say
it is not a big problem/not a problem at all. These figures remain relatively
stable among those who say they are fans of the sport, 68% say it is a
problem while 29% say it is not.
Despite widespread coverage in the last year concerning racism
allegations within English cricket, less than half of people in Britain (38%)
say there is a problem there (rising to 45% amongst ethnic minority Britons).
Overall, the same proportion (38%) say there is not. However, this may
reflect that the public follow the sport less closely than football as 24%
say they don’t know when asked about racism in professional cricket (compared
to 12% when asked about football). Meanwhile, among fans of cricket, half
(49%) say there is a problem with racism in the sport and 48% say there is
not. For rugby union, around a quarter of the public overall (27%) say
there is a problem with racism in the professional game, rising to 37%
amongst ethnic minority Britons, while almost half say there is not (46%).
However, levels of don’t knows are similar to that for cricket (27%).
Amongst rugby union fans, 31% say there is a problem with racism in the
professional game and 63% say there is not. Is enough being done to tackle racism in
sport? Only a quarter of Britons (24%) believe the right amount is being
done to tackle racism in professional football, 15% say too much is being
done and 44% say not enough is being done 17% don’t know. Among fans of the
sport, 43% want to see more done to tackle the issue while 3 in 10 (30%) say
enough is already being done and 21% think too much has been done. 5% don’t
know.
Just over a third (36%) of Britons in general say the right amount is
being done to tackle racism in rugby union, this increases to half of those
who are fans of the sport (51%). One in 10 (10%) of all Britons say efforts
have gone too far and 22% say they haven’t gone far enough. A third don’t
know (33%), reflecting the relative lack of public familiarity with the sport
compared to football. Among rugby union fans, 17% say efforts have gone too
far while 22% want to see more done and 10% indicate they don’t know. For professional cricket, 13% of the public say efforts to tackle
racism have gone too far while 3 in 10 (29%) say the right amount is being
done and the same proportion say more needs to happen to fight racism in the
professional game (29%). 30% of the public say they don’t know. Among cricket
fans, 4 in 10 (41%) say the right amount is being done but a third (32%) say
efforts have not gone far enough. Around a quarter (24%) believe they have
gone too far. 4% don’t know. Keiran Pedley, Director of Research at
Ipsos, said: These figures show that football fans
believe that racism is a significant problem for the sport, with large
numbers saying more should be done to tackle it. A smaller, but significant,
number of cricket fans say the same about cricket. Meanwhile, whilst fans of
rugby union are the least likely to see an issue in their sport, this does
not of course mean there isn’t one. (Ipsos MORI) 28 April 2022 Source: https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/more-two-thirds-football-fans-britain-think-racism-problem-sport 740-741-43-08/Polls Britons Tend To Think Labour Would Better Manage The Cost Of
Living And Levelling Up
Despite a mountain of controversy, Boris Johnson remains in Number 10
insisting he will “get
on with the job” of levelling-up the country and sorting out the cost of
living crisis. However, new YouGov polling shows that most of the public think he is
not the man for either job. By 38% to 20% Britons think that a Labour government led by Keir
Starmer, would be better suited to managing the ongoing cost of living crisis
than a Conservative government under Johnson. A further quarter (26%) say
neither and 16% are unsure. While half (50%) of 2019 Conservative voters think that a Johnson-led
government would be best at dealing with the cost of living, one in nine
(11%) think that Labour with Keir Starmer at the helm would be better.
"Levelling-up" was a key pledge of the 2019
Conservative manifesto, but Britons generally think Johnson is not the
man to deliver on that promise. People are twice as likely to think that a Labour government under
Starmer would be better at regenerating areas outside London and the South
East (38%) than a Johnson-led Conservative government (17%). Even among 2019 Conservative voters, just 41% think a Johnson-led
government would best level up areas outside London, while 13% think a
Starmer government would do better. A further 25% say neither would be
better, and 20% are unsure.
While a significant amount of the plans in the government’s
levelling-up whitepaper target the North of England, 45% of those in
the region think that Labour would do a better job of revitalising areas
outside the South East, versus just 13% who think the Conservatives under
Johnson would do better. (YouGov UK) April 28, 2022 740-741-43-09/Polls Most Britons Support Including The Number Of Calories That Are In A
Meal On Food Menus (54%), Compared To A Third (33%) Who Oppose It
From 6 April it became compulsory for all restaurants, cafes and
takeaways with 250 or more staff to print how many calories are in the meals
on their menus. This new government initiative is part of plans to tackle
obesity by promoting healthier eating choices. New YouGov data reveals that most Britons support including the
number of calories that are in a meal on food menus (54%), compared to a
third (33%) who oppose it. This said, there are significant age splits on the policy, with 18-29
year olds less likely to support the policy than those from older groups. The
under-30s are closely divided, with 45% supportive and 41% opposed, while a
majority in all older age groups back the policy (52-60%), with only a third
or fewer opposed (28-35%).
Women aged 18-29 are actively against the policy, with just 37%
supporting the inclusion of calories on menus and half (51%) opposing it. Britons are doubtful that calories on menus
will help tackle obesity Despite supporting the policy, Britons tend to think it won’t
actually work on its stated aim of helping to tackle obesity. When asked whether including calories on food menus would have a
positive or negative impact on tackling obesity in the UK, half of Britons
(51%) think it will have no impact. Additionally, 45% also think it will have
no impact on making people eat healthier.
Critics have argued the menu changes will
promote harmful and dangerous thoughts around eating, increasing the amount
of people with eating disorders, and many Britons agree. When asked what impact people think the change will have on the
number of people with eating disorders, 37% think it will have a negative
impact, compared to 33% who think it will have no impact. Attitudes have
changed since the question was last asked in May 2021, when just one in four
(24%) thought it would have a negative impact on the number of people with
eating disorders and 42% thought it would have no impact.
There is also a substantial gender divide, with women twice as likely
to think that calories on menus will have a negative impact on the number of
people with eating disorders (50%) than men are (23%). Women aged 18-29 are the most likely to think calorie counts on menus
would have a negative impact on the number of people with eating disorders,
with 71% thinking so. While not as opposed to the policy in general as their
younger peers, women in other age groups also tended to think it would have a
negative impact on the number of people with eating disorders, at 60% of
women in their 30s, 50% of those in their forties and 47% of those in their fifties
thinking this.
(YouGov UK) April 28, 2022 740-741-43-10/Polls Stop And Search: How Do Ethnic Minority Britons Feel About Police
Powers
Stop and search use surged
during lockdown, and the government’s new Police,
Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill proposes to expand stop and search
powers to give the police more authority to search those they don’t suspect
of a crime. But how do Britons – and particularly ethnic minority Britons – feel
about current police powers to stop and search? New YouGov research shows that ethnic minority Britons are much less
likely to support the power of the police to use stop and search than white
Britons. While they still support stop and search by 53% to 34%, this is 20
points lower than the 73% support among white Britons.
Support is lower still among Black Britons, who are split 44% in
support and 43% in opposition to stop and search. However, when asked about current use of stop and search, ethnic
minority Britons are split on whether powers are used too much (32%) or the
right amount (30%). Only 11% say they are used too little, and 26% are
unsure. Black Britons are much more likely to say that police powers are used
too much, at 45%. White Britons are less sure about how police are wielding their
powers (36%). Fewer say ‘too much’ (15%) than ethnic minority Britons, while
slightly more say ‘too little’ (17%).
Although showing relatively high levels of support for police powers
to use stop and search, ethnic minority Britons oppose expanding such powers,
including the ability to search people they do not suspect of committing a
crime, by 58% to 29%. Opposition is again highest among Black Britons, with
two-thirds (66%) opposed to giving the police such power. White Britons also
tend to oppose expanding stop and search, by 48% to 36%.
Is stop and search fair to ethnic minority
Britons? Ethnic minority Britons say no, but white Britons are split Six in 10 ethnic minority Britons say they are either not very
confident (35%), or have no confidence at all (26%), in the police’s ability
to apply stop and search in a way that is fair to ethnic minorities. Three in
ten are confident that the police can be fair with stop and search powers,
made up of 22% who have a fair amount of confidence and just 7% who have a
great amount of confidence.
White Britons are more split, narrowly tending to have confidence in
the police to apply stop and search fairly to ethnic minority Britons (45% to
40%). The government’s own figures suggest that Black Britons are nine
times more likely to be stopped and searched than white Britons, and
when asked if they thought people of their racial group get stopped and searched
by the police more or less than white Britons, 81% of Black Britons say they
get searched more, including 62% who say ‘much more’. Just 3% of Black
Britons think they get searched less than white Britons.
Two-thirds of Pakistani Britons (65%) and six in 10 Indian Britons
(59%) also think people from their groups get searched more than white
Britons. Across all ethnic minorities, 62% say people of their racial group
get stopped and searched more than white Britons. Do stop and search powers make Britons feel
safer – and what impact do they have on different types of crime? It is difficult
to measure the absolute impact of stop and search powers. But for
both white and ethnic minority Britons, many feel no more or less safe in
their local area because of them. A third of ethnic minority Britons (36%) and 41% of white Britons say
the police’s use of stop and search in their local area makes them feel no
more or less safe than if they did not have this power. Around a quarter
(27%) of both ethnic minority and white Britons say use of stop and search in
their local area makes them feel more safe, while 15% of ethnic minority
Britons and 7% of white Britons feel less safe as a result.
Similarly, 35% of minority ethnic Britons and 43% of white Britons
say the police’s use of stop and search in their local area does not make
them feel any more or less confident in the police, while 28% and 27%
respectively feel more confident. Ethnic minority Britons are far more likely
than white Britons to feel less confident
in the police as a result of the use of stop and search, by 20% to just 8%.
When it comes to the impact on specific types of crime, a plurality
of Britons of all races think that stop and search reduces knife crime, from
51% of Black Britons to 65% of white Britons. Black and mixed ethnicity
Britons are most likely to say stop and search makes no difference to knife
crime, at 31%. Both white (59%) and ethnic minority Britons in general (54%) also
think that stop and search reduces drug-related crime, although they are less
sure when it comes to theft and burglary (40% and 39% respectively). However, Britons tend to think stop and search powers make little
difference to crimes like graffiti (46% of both white and ethnic minority
Britons think stop and search makes no difference) and sexual violence (67%
and 56% respectively say stop and search makes no difference). Can Britons identify their rights if
they’re stopped and searched by the police? We asked the public to say whether they thought a series of
statements about stop and search were true or false. Most of the public –
both white and ethnic minority Britons – correctly answered most of the
questions. However, ethnic minority Britons are much more likely to erroneously
think they can be stopped and searched based on their nationality and race
(31%) than white Britons (13%). According to law, nobody
can be stopped and searched based only on nationality or race. Some 72%
of white Britons and 53% of ethnic minority Britons correctly answered this
question.
There were two statements that more of the public got wrong than
right. Just 29% of white Britons and 31% of ethnic minority Britons correctly
said that a police officer from
the opposite sex can search someone during a stop and search, with
43% and 41% respectively incorrectly answering this question. Men are more
likely to correctly answer this question than women: 34-36% of men correctly
said that an officer of the opposite sex can stop and search someone,
compared to 25-26% of women. Finally, just 24% of white Britons and 28% of ethnic minority Britons
know that you do not always have to give the police your name, address and
date of birth during a stop and search, with 45% and 44% respectively giving
an incorrect answer to this statement. (YouGov UK) April 29, 2022 740-741-43-11/Polls Majority Of Britons Now Satisfied With Government Handling Of Russian
Invasion Of Ukraine
The latest Ipsos Political Monitor, taken April 20th to 28th this
year shows increased public approval for the government’s handling of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine. 58% are now satisfied with how the government is
handling the situation (up 12 points from March) and 30% are dissatisfied
(down 8 points).
Elsewhere in the poll:
Gideon Skinner, Head of Politics at Ipsos,
says of the findings: We have seen Britons follow the events in
Ukraine closely, with a lot of concern over its impact on Ukrainians and on
the UK, and support for diplomatic and economic interventions (even if there
are misgivings about more direct military action). And now we have seen
satisfaction with the way the Government has responded to the invasion grow
as it aims to take a lead internationally in providing support for Ukraine.
Generally there is a view that the Government is getting the balance right,
but amidst concern for refugees caught up in the conflict there is a feeling
that Britain could be providing more humanitarian aid, especially among
graduates, the middle classes and Labour supporters (Ipsos MORI) 3 May 2022 740-741-43-12/Polls By 40% To 23%, Britons Have An Unfavourable View Of Elon Musk
Personally
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and currently the richest person
in the world, has announced he is in the process of buying the social media
platform Twitter for
$44 billion. Musk has vowed to ensure that the site becomes a space for
free speech, tweeting it is the “bedrock of a functioning democracy”. But
what do the British public think of Musk’s takeover? By 40% to 23%, Britons have an unfavourable view of Elon Musk
personally, though 37% don’t know enough about him to give an opinion either
way. He is also unpopular with Twitter users, with 49% holding a negative
opinion of him compared to 27% with a positive view.
The vast majority of Twitter users (90%) are aware of the ongoing
sale, and by 30% to 14% users believe this will be a bad rather than good
thing for the platform (32% vs 14% among those who use the platform on a
daily basis). A quarter of those who use the platform (24%) don’t think it
would make much difference either way. The study was conducted prior to Musk
saying he would
introduce minor costs for commercial or government users.
When it comes to Musk’s promises to facilitate more free speech, his
ideas do not necessarily align with what the British public, or British
Twitter users, want. Only 11% of the public and 14% of Twitter users think
the site currently doesn’t give people enough freedom to post what they want.
By contrast, more than twice as many people (32% of Britons and 37% of
Twitter users) think that Twitter already gives too much freedom, allowing too much
harmful and offensive content. One in six Britons (17%) and one in four users
(27%) think the platform has the balance about right.
Looking across the pond, the takeover is being
viewed slightly more postively in America than it is in the UK. As
news of the sale was breaking, 30% of the US public thought it would be good
for Twitter compared to 24% saying it would be bad. Elon Musk himself is also
far more popular in the United States, with 49% holding a favourable view of
him compared to 31% an unfavourable one. (YouGov UK) May 04, 2022 740-741-43-13/Polls Local Elections 2022: The Story From 16 Key Battleground Councils
Tomorrow, voters up and down the United Kingdom will head to the
polls in a series of local authority, parish, and mayoral elections. On top
of this, elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly will take place on the
same day. The last time the vast majority of current council seats up for
contest tomorrow were fought was in 2018. In May of that year, the
Conservatives were neck-and-neck in national polling, and the UK’s exit from
the European Union was dominating headlines. Ahead of what will be a stern mid-term test for Boris Johnson’s beleaguered
government this year, YouGov has polled voters in 16 key battleground English
councils to establish current voting intention – and how it has changed since
2018. Labour need to make serious gains and show strong progress in council
elections if they aim to take power in Westminster at the next general
election. But how do their prospects line up in battleground areas? Our councils, split and modelled in three separate groups, are the
councils of Hillingdon, Wandsworth, Westminster, Croydon, and Barnet in London, Bolton, Bury, Wirral,
Calderdale, Kirklees, and Hull in the
North, and Southampton, Hastings, Worthing, Milton Keynes, and
Crawley in the South. The councils are a mixture of marginal administrations, no overall
controls, and ‘all out’ electoral contests each happening on Thursday. Our models suggest that while Labour will make gains up and down
England, they will find their pace of growth to be much slower in some areas
of the country than others. Overall, the story is fairly consistent - we expect swings of varying
sizes from the Conservatives to Labour in all areas, and also some notable
improvements for the Greens and independent/smaller party candidates.
However, the Conservative vote seems to be holding up better in some areas of
England than others, and this will impact the pattern of results on the
night.
London Labour are defending a very strong set of local election results in
London, with Jeremy Corbyn leading his party to 44% of the vote and over
1,100 councillors last time round. But despite this high baseline, our data
suggests that Labour will improve further still in the capital. Not only are they likely to keep hold of and increase their presence
on Croydon council, but Labour have a good chance of taking Wandsworth – once
described as a ‘flagship’ Conservative council. Elsewhere in London, their progress will bring them within striking
distance of taking both Barnet and Westminster councils, but the result there
is too close to call. Meanwhile, Hillingdon is likely to remain under Conservative control,
despite Labour advances. The South Elsewhere in the South of England, Labour will also be making
progress on 2018 but are less likely to be winning key battleground councils. While we expect Milton Keynes to stay firmly in No Overall Control
(NOC), Labour look to be defending the ultra-marginal Hastings and may well
win Southampton from Conservative control. Meanwhile, Crawley and Worthing remain on an absolute knife edge. On a good night, Labour could win four out of five of these Southern
battlegrounds, but patterns of both council and seat contests, and an
anticipated smaller Con – Lab swing, mean opportunities for gains are
somewhat restricted. The North Finally, our Northern group of key councils highlight the difficulties
Labour face in winning back voters (and councilors) in many areas we’ve come
to know as the ‘Red Wall’. The councils of Bolton Wirral, and Kirklees look set to remain in No
Overall Control, with strong independent presence and a more stubborn
Conservative vote hampering Labour progress there. Looking further afield, Labour’s prospects of holding on to
wafer-thin majorities on Bury, Calderdale, and Hull councils are promising,
though they face a fierce battle with the Liberal Democrats to maintain
majority control of the latter. Overall, we expect the Conservative to Labour swing to be much less
in and around these councils than in other battlegrounds further South in the
country. (YouGov UK) May 05, 2022 Source: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/05/05/local-elections-2022 740-741-43-14/Polls Fewer Than Half Britons Recognise Some Of The Newly Identified Signs
Of Covid
In April, the UK’s Health Security Agency updated
its guidance to include several new signs of COVID-19 infection.
Among others, aches, shortness of breath, and diarrhoea have been added to
the list alongside the longstanding original symptoms of fever, a new
persistent cough, and changes in smell and taste. However, with the
pandemic far from over, how many Britons know these new symptoms are
associated with COVID-19? Close to nine in ten (87%) correctly identify exhaustion or excessive
tiredness as a symptom, as do 84% who rightly say shortness of breath is a
symptom. Another 78% are right in thinking aches and sore throats are now
symptoms of COVID-19. A further 75% correctly say headaches are among the warning signs of
a COVID-19 infection. Around two thirds (66%) also accurately answer that a
runny nose is a symptom. Three other symptoms from the updated guidance are not as well known
by Britons. These include feeling sick or being sick, which is only
recognised as a symptom by 46% of people, and loss of appetite (45%). The
least well-recognised of the newly added symptoms is diarrhoea, which only
39% of people know is a sign of COVID-19. Unsurprisingly, and perhaps reassuringly, the vast majority of
Britons correctly say that loss of taste or smell (92%) and a new cough (91%)
are COVID-19 symptoms. Slightly fewer know that fever is also a symptom
(84%). As well as the new symptoms, Britons are also generally able to
identify which symptoms are not associated with COVID-19. However, 29% of people
incorrectly think that poor sleep is a COVID symptom, versus 37% who rightly
say it is not. While responses for other symptoms tend to be the same across
age groups, those aged 18 to 24 are more likely to mistakenly pick poor sleep
as a COVID-19 symptom (40%) compared to between 26-29% among other age
groups. Around half correctly say that increased thirst (51%), blurred vision
(52%), and numbness (51%) are not currently symptoms of COVID-19. Six in ten
(61%) also correctly say that constipation is not a symptom, as do three
quarters who say the same of increasing appetite (75%). (YouGov UK) May 05, 2022 740-741-43-15/Polls More Than 1 In 4 Football And Rugby Union Fans Think Not Enough Being
Done To Prevent Concussions In The Professional Game
New research by Ipsos in the UK shows more than one in four football
and rugby union fans do not think enough is being done to combat concussions
in professional football and rugby union. In a nationally representative poll of 2,051 British adults aged
16-75, Ipsos interviewed 921 football fans, 519 rugby union fans and 447 fans
of cricket. In total, more than one in four football fans (28%) thought not
enough was being done to prevent concussions in football. Meanwhile, 29% and
20% of rugby union and cricket fans thought not enough was being done in
rugby union and cricket respectively.
However, overall more fans of each sport though enough was currently
being done with around one in four thinking that efforts to prevent
concussions were actually going too far. For example:
Keiran Pedley, Director of Research at
Ipsos, said: These results show that whilst most
football and rugby union fans think that either enough is being done to
prevent concussions, or too much is being done, many think there is a
problem. More than one in four supporters of both sports want to see more action
taken to prevent concussions in the professional game, so the relevant
authorities should not expect the pressure to act to disappear any time
soon. (Ipsos MORI) 6 May 2022 740-741-43-16/Polls 77% Of French People Believe That Medical Biology Laboratories Are
Increasingly Being Taken Over By Large Financial Groups
Twenty years ago, there were no financial groups in clinical medical
biology in France. Today, 6
financial groups own 67% of these urban medical biology companies. From
2005 to 2021, with successive takeovers, the number of city laboratories was
practically divided by 10, going from 3,991 companies to 412 on national
territory1. Tomorrow, it will be the turn of pharmacists, veterinarians,
radiologists, etc… all those involved
in local medicine.
According to the Les Biologistes Indépendant – Ipsos survey conducted
among French people and doctors in April 2022, 77% of French people believe that medical biology
laboratories are increasingly being taken over by large financial groups ,
67% of citizens questioned claiming that this trend is likely to lead to a
reduction in material and human investments to generate the most possible
profits.
(Ipsos France) May 5, 2022 740-741-43-17/Polls 49% Of The Employed Spanish Population Agree That They Love Their Job
The first of May marks the International Workers' Day , in commemoration of the
labor movement worldwide and for this occasion, from YouGov we have analyzed
whether Spaniards are happy or not within their own work. Faced with the statement "I love my job", 49% of the employed Spanish population agree ,
while 19% say the opposite. The remaining 32% are neither in favor nor
against this statement. Young people between 18 and 24 years of age show a more confused
attitude towards their occupation, since 44% would not know how to answer
whether they enjoy it or not, 42% declare that they adore it (7 pp below the
average) and the remaining 14%, the contrary. The population between the ages of 25 and 54 is the most negative
towards their work, since 20% declare that they do not love it. On the other hand, those over 55 are the least negative about their
occupation, since 18% declare that they do not love their job while 51%
declare that they enjoy their occupation.
(YouGov Spain) Source: https://es.yougov.com/news/2022/04/28/dia-internacional-de-los-trabajadores-son-los-espa/ NORTH
AMERICA
740-741-43-18/Polls In CDC Survey, 37% Of U S High School Students Report Regular Mental
Health Struggles During Covid-19
Many high school students have reported experiencing mental health
challenges during the coronavirus outbreak, according to recently published
survey findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
High school students who are gay, lesbian or bisexual, as well as girls, were
especially likely to say their mental health has suffered during the
pandemic. Overall, 37% of students at public and private high schools reported
that their mental health was not good most or all of the time during the
pandemic, according to the CDC’s Adolescent Behaviors
and Experiences Survey, which was fielded from January to June 2021. In
the survey, “poor mental health” includes stress, anxiety and depression.
About three-in-ten high school students (31%) said they experienced poor
mental health most or all of the time in the 30 days before the survey. In
addition, 44% said that, in the previous 12 months, they felt sad or hopeless
almost every day for at least two weeks in a row such that they stopped doing
some usual activities. (Not all of the survey questions asked specifically
about mental health during the pandemic.)
High school students who are gay, lesbian or bisexual reported higher
rates of mental health stresses than their heterosexual (straight) peers. The
share of LGB high schoolers who said their mental health was not good most of
the time or always during the pandemic was more than double that of
heterosexual students (64% vs. 30%). More than half of LGB students (55%)
said they experienced poor mental health at least most of the time in the 30
days before the survey, while 26% of heterosexual teens said the same. And
about three-quarters of LGB high schoolers (76%) said they felt sad or
hopeless almost daily for at least two weeks such that they stopped doing
some of their usual activities, compared with 37% of heterosexual students. There were also differences by gender. About half of high school
girls (49%) said their mental health was not good most of the time or always
during the COVID-19 outbreak – roughly double the share of boys who said this
(24%). And roughly four-in-ten girls (42%) reported feeling this way in the
30 days before the survey; 20% of boys said the same. About six-in-ten high
school girls (57%) reported that at some point in the 12 months before taking
the survey (in the first half of 2021) they felt sad or hopeless almost every
day for at least two weeks in a row such that they stopped doing some usual
activities, compared with 31% of high school boys who said this. LGB high schoolers were also more likely than their heterosexual
peers to have sought mental health care – including treatment or counseling
for alcohol or drug use – via telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Around one-in-five LGB students (19%) said they received treatment this way
at some point during the pandemic, compared with 6% of heterosexual students.
Girls were more likely than boys to have received mental health care through
telemedicine (10% vs. 7%, respectively). Pandemic-related disruptions to schooling, socializing and family
life have created a situation that the U.S. surgeon general has described as
a “youth
mental health crisis,” with high rates of teens experiencing distress.
But public health experts had called attention to teen mental health even
before the coronavirus outbreak. For instance, a separate CDC survey
conducted in 2015 found that LGB teens were at greater risk of depression than
their heterosexual peers. And a Pew Research Center analysis of pre-pandemic
data from the National Survey for Drug Use and Health showed teenage girls
were more likely than their male peers to report recent
experiences with depression, as well as to receive treatment for it. (PEW) APRIL 25, 2022 740-741-43-19/Polls U S Public Continues To View Grades, Test Scores As Top Factors In
College Admissions
With the college admissions process under increasing scrutiny –
by colleges
themselves and the U.S.
Supreme Court – more Americans say high school grades and
standardized test scores should matter in the admissions process than say the
same about other factors.
More than nine-in-ten Americans (93%) say high school grades should
be at least a minor factor in admissions decisions, including 61% who say
they should be a major factor. Grades are, by far, the criteria the public
says should most factor into admissions decisions. This is followed by
standardized test scores (39% major factor, 46% minor factor) and community
service involvement (19% major, 48% minor), according to a Pew Research
Center survey conducted March 7-13, 2022. Nearly half of Americans (46%) say someone being the first in their
family to go to college should be either a major (18%) or minor (28%) factor
in admissions decisions, while a similar share say athletic ability should
factor into these decisions (9% major, 36% minor). How we did this By comparison, nearly three-quarters of Americans or more say gender,
race or ethnicity, or whether a relative attended the school should not factor into admissions
decisions. The relative importance of each of these factors is unchanged
since 2019. However, there have been declines in the shares of U.S.
adults who say grades and standardized tests should be major factors. Around
six-in-ten adults (61%) now say high school grades should be a major factor,
down from 67% in 2019. And 39% of adults currently say standardized test
scores should be a major factor, down from 47% three years ago.
Over this same time period, there has been an increase in the share
of adults who say that whether someone’s relative attended a particular
school – sometimes referred to as “legacy admissions” – should not be a factor in admissions
decisions. Today, 75% say this, up from 68% in 2019. There has been little
change in the public’s views of the other factors asked about in the survey. Large majorities across racial and ethnic groups and partisan lines
continue to say high school grades should be a factor in college admissions
decisions, but there have been some shifts since 2019 in the shares saying it
should be a major factor.
Asian American (65%) and White adults (63%) are now somewhat more likely than
Black (54%) and Hispanic (53%) adults to say high school grades should be a
major factor. Three years ago, Asian American adults (77%) were more likely
than White (68%), Hispanic (66%) and Black (63%) adults to say this. At the same time, the share of Democrats and Democratic-leaning
independents who say high school grades should be a major factor has
decreased from 68% in 2019 to 60% today. There has been less change among
Republicans and GOP leaners, from 68% in 2019 to 65% today. In both parties, fewer now say standardized test scores should be a
major factor in college admissions decisions than said the same three years
ago. But this shift is starker among Democrats (34% now, down from 44%) than
Republicans (47% now, down from 51%). And while there have been declines
across racial and ethnic groups in the shares who say standardized test
scores should be a major factor in college admissions, this decline is
particularly pronounced among Asian Americans. (Three-in-ten Asian Americans
live in California, a higher share than among other racial and ethnic groups.
Public universities in that state have dropped
standardized testing requirements in recent years.) Race and ethnicity, first generation
status, legacy admissions Although majorities of Americans across racial and ethnic and
partisan groups say race or ethnicity should not be factored into college acceptance decisions,
there are variations in how widely this view is held. About eight-in-ten White adults (79%) say race or ethnicity should
not factor into admission decisions. By comparison, 68% of Hispanic adults
say this, as do about six-in-ten Asian American (63%) and Black (59%) adults.
And while 87% of Republicans say race or ethnicity should not be a factor in
admissions, that share falls to 62% among Democrats. While three-quarters of Americans say having a relative who attended
the school should not factor
into decisions, White adults (80%) are more likely than Hispanic (67%), Black
(62%) and Asian American (59%) adults to say this.
The public is divided about whether being the first in the family to
go to college should be a factor in college admissions decisions (46%) or not
(54%). About six-in-ten Democrats (58%) say first-generation status should be
a consideration in admissions; about a third of Republicans (32%) take this
position. Asian American, Black and Hispanic adults are more likely than
White adults to say first-generation status should be a factor in admissions. (PEW) APRIL 26, 2022 740-741-43-20/Polls A Third Of U S College Students Consider Withdrawing
About a third (32%) of currently enrolled students pursuing a
bachelor's degree report they have considered withdrawing from their program
for a semester or more in the past six months. A slightly higher percentage
of students pursuing their associate degree, 41%, report they have considered
stopping out in the past six months. These are similar to 2020 levels when
33% of bachelor's degree students reported they had considered stopping out
and 38% of associate degree students said the same.
Among all racial and ethnic groups, multiracial students are the most
likely to report they have considered stopping out. About half of those
pursuing an associate or bachelor's degree who identify as multiracial report
they have considered stopping out in the past six months (55% and 48%,
respectively). Results for the 2021 Lumina-Gallup State of Higher Education Study
are based on web surveys conducted Oct. 19-Nov. 22, 2021, with a
non-probability sample of U.S. adults aged 18-59 who have earned a high
school diploma or degree but had not completed an associate or bachelor's
degree. The sample included 5,215 students currently pursuing an associate or
bachelor's degree. Read
more about the research. Emotional Stress Most Common Reasons
Students Consider Withdrawing Among those who
considered stopping out of coursework, the most common reason was emotional
stress. Seventy-six percent of those pursuing a bachelor's degree who have
considered stopping out report they did so because of emotional stress they were experiencing. A similar percentage,
63%, of associate degree students say the same. These represent significant
changes from 2020 when 42% of bachelor's degree students and 24% of associate
degree students considering stopping out reported they did so due to
emotional stress. COVID-19, cost of attendance and coursework difficulty were the three
next-most-often reported reasons students considered stopping out; however,
COVID-19-related reasons declined significantly from 2020 for bachelor's
degree students. Mentions of coursework difficulty increased significantly
from 2020 to 2021 -- 17 percentage points for those pursuing a bachelor's
degree and 10 points for those pursuing an associate degree. Implications Declining enrollments represent a significant challenge to
higher education institutions, particularly in smaller institutions that rely
heavily upon enrollment to remain open. Students who stop out of higher
education are also worse off than when they entered, with many carrying high
debt levels without the benefit of a higher-earning degree. As such,
understanding the drivers of stopping out of higher education has never been
more important. The surge in mentions of emotional stress and coursework
difficulty as reasons students have considered stopping out is likely a
reflection of the impact of COVID-19 on college campuses nationally. For nearly two years, students have battled feelings of isolation.
Many have struggled with their coursework due to these mental health
challenges and other issues related to openings, closures and emergency
remote learning. The two issues -- academic challenge and mental health --
are highly related as coursework challenges can increase feelings of stress,
and stress can make concentrating on schoolwork and studying even more
difficult. While higher education institutions have been battling a growing
mental health crisis for the past decade, it is clear that the pandemic has
exacerbated an already critical issue, and the implications are devastating
for students, their families and their institutions. It is more important
than ever that students invest in high-quality mental health and academic
support programming to serve as interventions to the growing enrollment
challenges facing schools and their students nationally. (Gallup) Source: https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/391823/third-college-students-consider-withdrawing.aspx 740-741-43-21/Polls China’s Partnership With Russia Seen As Serious Problem For The U S
As war rages in Ukraine – one
which China thus far has refused to condemn – Americans are acutely
concerned about the partnership between China and Russia. Around nine-in-ten
U.S. adults say it’s at least a somewhat serious problem for the United
States, and a 62% majority say it’s a very serious
problem – more than say the same about any of the other six problems asked
about, including China’s involvement in politics in the U.S., its policies on
human rights and tensions between China and Taiwan, among others.
Alongside the specific concern about the China-Russia relationship is
a sense that China is a world superpower. About two-thirds (66%) of U.S.
adults say China’s influence on the world stage has grown stronger in recent
years. More Americans now also describe China as the world’s leading economic
power. Around four-in-ten (43%) call China the world’s top economy – as many
as say the same of the U.S. This marks a significant departure since 2020,
when 32% of Americans said China was the world’s top economy and 52% named
the U.S. This double-digit increase returns the share of Americans who
consider China the world’s top economy to levels last
seen in 2014. And while Americans still unambiguously consider the U.S. to be the
world’s leading military power – 70% say this, compared with 19% who name
China and 9% who name Russia – the share naming China has more than doubled
since 2020. China’s power and influence is also seen as a growing threat to the
U.S. Today, two-thirds describe China as a major threat – up 5 percentage
points since 2020 and 23 points since the question was first asked in 2013.
Notably, despite the conflict
in Ukraine, this is similar to the share who describe Russia’s
power and influence as a major threat (64%) to the U.S.
Negative views of China have also increased slightly over the past
year. Around eight-in-ten (82%) have unfavorable opinions of China, including
40% who have very unfavorable
views of the country. This is a 6-point increase in negative views from 2021
and a new high since the Center began asking this question on its American
Trends Panel in 2020. The current reading is also a record reading of
unfavorable opinions since 2005, although the mode shift from phone surveys
to the online panel makes it difficult
to directly compare today’s numbers with data from before 2020.
But, even while negative views of China have grown, Americans
increasingly see China as a competitor and not as an enemy. Currently, 62%
identify China as a competitor and 25% an enemy, with 10% seeing China as a
partner. In January, only 54% chose competitor while 35% said enemy, almost
exactly the same shares as the year prior. In the same two months, after
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the
opposite shift occurred in the shares of Americans who call Russia
an enemy or competitor. As has consistently
been the case in recent years, Republicans and independents who lean
toward the Republican Party tend to have more negative views of China than
Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party – 89% vs.
79%, respectively. Republicans are also much more likely to call China an
enemy than Democrats and to describe China’s power and influence as a major
threat to the U.S.
Differences are particularly large when it comes to economic issues:
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say the China-U.S. economic
relationship is bad and to prioritize getting tough on China on economic
issues. Views of the world’s leading economic power also differ by
partisanship, with 49% of Republicans naming China as the top economic power
and 39% of Democrats saying the same. But the share of Republicans naming
China as the top economic power has almost doubled since 2020, while
Democratic views on China’s economic dominance have remained largely
unchanged. These are among the key findings of a new survey conducted by Pew
Research Center on the Center’s nationally representative American Trends
Panel among 3,581 adults from March 21 to 27, 2022. The survey also finds
major differences in views of China between older and younger Americans. Older
Americans are more likely to have negative views of China, to say the
China-U.S. relationship is bad and to describe C Unfavorable views of China at new high Today, 82% of Americans have unfavorable opinions of China, about
half of which are somewhat unfavorable
(42%) while the other half are very unfavorable
(40%). This is a 6-point increase in negative views from 2021 and a new high
since the Center began asking this question on its online American Trends
Panel in 2020. The current point is also a record reading of unfavorable
opinions compared with almost two decades of surveys conducted by phone. While negative opinions are high across partisan and ideological
groups, Republicans and Republican leaners are more likely than their
Democratic counterparts to have unfavorable views of China. Notably, there
are ideological distinctions within these partisan groups. Larger shares of
conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats hold negative views than do
those who are more moderate. Conservative Republicans are particularly likely
to have very unfavorable
views of China (64%) – about twice as much as the share of any other
ideological group. The concentration of unfavorable views also varies between age
groups: 90% of those ages 65 and older see China unfavorably, compared with
76% of adults under 30. Additionally, 86% of men view the country negatively,
compared with 78% of women. China seen as competitor rather than enemy
of the U.S.
Largely negative views of China are accompanied by negative views of
the China-U.S. relationship. Seven-in-ten Americans say that relations
between the U.S. and China are bad, including 58% who say the relationship
is somewhat bad and
12% who say it is very bad.
Alternatively, while 28% say it is somewhat good, fewer than 1% describe the
current relationship as very good.
Nearly four-in-ten adults under age 30 believe relations are good – at least
10 percentage points more than any other age group over 30. From January to March of this year, the proportion of Americans who
see China as a competitor or enemy of the U.S. changed significantly.
Currently, 62% identify China as a competitor and 25% an enemy, while 10% see
China as a partner. In January 2022, only 54% chose competitor, while 35%
said enemy – almost exactly the same shares as the year prior. In the same
two months, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the
opposite shift occurred in the shares of Americans who call Russia
an enemy or competitor. There are clear partisan differences to this question: Democrats and
Democratic leaners see China as a competitor at higher rates than
Republicans, and Republicans are more likely to call China an enemy than
Democrats. Republicans are also about equally likely to say China is a
competitor or enemy rather than a partner, a reversal from January when they
were most likely to consider China an enemy. Just as more adults under 30 say the China-U.S. relationship is good,
they are also more likely to call China a partner: 17% say this, compared
with just 4% of those ages 65 and older. At the same time, 36% of older
adults think of China as an enemy, while just 16% of the youngest age group
say the same. Americans have a negative outlook on
economic relationship with China
Americans also say that current economic relations between the U.S.
and China are bad. Though the relationship is viewed negatively, more than
half favor taking a tough stance with China on economic issues rather than
strengthening the relationship. Only 28% say the U.S. should prioritize the
economic relationship, even if it means ignoring human rights issues. These
views have changed little in the last year. Across each of these variables, there are major differences between
partisan groups. Three-quarters of Republicans and GOP leaners say the
China-U.S. economic relationship is bad, while just over half of Democrats
and Democratic-leaning independents agree. When choosing between building a strong
economic relationship and getting tough with China on economic issues, the
majority of Democrats (54%) pick strong relations, while the majority of
Republicans (67%) prioritize getting tough with China. Majorities in both
parties favor promoting human rights, though Democrats do so at a slightly
higher rate (71% vs. 66%). Americans continue to view China’s power
and influence as a major threat
Americans also express concern over China’s power and influence:
Two-thirds consider China’s power and influence a major threat, and about
three-in-ten see it as a minor threat. The share who express major concern
around China’s stature has increased by 23 percentage points since the
question was first asked in 2013, but remains generally unchanged since 2020. Evaluations of China’s power and influence as a major threat differ
by demographic characteristics. Men are significantly more likely than women
to consider the country’s power and influence a major threat to the U.S.
Americans ages 18 to 29 are much less likely than those 30 and older to see
China’s power and influence as a significant threat. Likewise, Americans who
completed high school or less are less likely than those with more education
to say China poses a major threat to the U.S. Conservative Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are
particularly likely to say China’s power and influence is a major threat for
the U.S. While about six-in-ten moderate or liberal Republicans and Democrats
of all ideologies see the issue as a major threat, more than eight-in-ten
conservative Republicans hold this opinion. The share of Republicans who say
China’s power is a major threat has also increased by 8 points since 2020,
while opinions among Democrats remain relatively unchanged. Majority of Americans see China-Russia
partnership as very serious problem
When asked to evaluate seven issues related to the U.S.-China
relationship, more than seven-in-ten Americans label each issue very or
somewhat serious. At least a quarter consider each of the seven topics a very serious problem. The partnership between China and Russia, which the two nations
recently described as a limitless
friendship, stands out as especially concerning to Americans. About
six-in-ten say the relationship poses a very serious
problem – 15 percentage points higher than the next-highest response.
China voted
against removing Russia from the United Nations Human Rights
Council, and state
media continues to refer to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a
“special military operation.” About half in the U.S. also consider China’s involvement in U.S.
politics a very serious concern, and roughly four-in-ten see China’s military
power and China’s policies on human rights in the same light. This represents
an 8-point decline from 2021 in the share who are very concerned about
China’s human rights policies. Conversely, Americans have become more
concerned about the relationship between China and Taiwan. While 28% saw the
tensions as very serious in 2021, 35% now consider cross-strait tensions a
very grave concern. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently
warned U.S. President Joe Biden of the consequences of mishandling
the cross-strait issue in a mid-March call. Mainland China’s policies in Hong Kong elicit the lowest level of
concern out of all of the items, with only about a quarter labeling them a
very serious problem.
For all seven issues polled, older Americans are more likely than
their youngest counterparts to say they would pose a very serious problem to
the U.S. The age gap is greatest with regard to tensions between China and
Taiwan. While 52% of Americans ages 65 and older consider tensions between
China and Taiwan a very serious problem, 26% of those ages 18 to 29 say the
same. A 25-point gap is also present when Americans think about the
partnership between China and Russia as well as China’s military power. Older
and younger Americans are in most agreeance with regard to China’s policies
on human rights. A partisan gap also emerges regarding these issues. Republicans are
more likely than Democrats to consider some possible issues in the United
States’ relationship with China as very serious
problems. Partisans are least aligned when thinking about China’s role in
U.S. politics. A 57% majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning
independents think China’s involvement in politics is a very serious problem,
compared with 39% of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents.
Double-digit differences in attitudes also occur around economic competition with
China and China’s military power. Bipartisan agreement is seen when asking
about China’s relationship with Russia and China’s human rights policies. Americans see China’s influence on world
stage increasing
About two-thirds of U.S. adults say China’s influence in the world is
getting stronger. Another 22% see China’s influence as staying about the
same, and 10% say China’s influence is growing weaker. A greater share of men than women see China’s influence as getting
stronger, and those with more education are more likely than those with less
schooling to say China is becoming more influential. While Republicans and
Republican leaners are more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to
say China’s influence is growing stronger, conservative Republicans and
liberal Democrats are particularly likely to hold this view. Moderate and
liberal Republicans and moderate and conservative Democrats are about as
likely to say China’s influence in the world in recent years has been getting
stronger. China and U.S. tied as world’s leading
economy, according to Americans
Americans are increasingly likely to see China as the world’s leading
economic power. Currently, 43% of Americans consider China the top economic
power, with an equal share naming the U.S. In summer 2020, for comparison,
32% of Americans said China is the world’s top economy, while 52% named the
U.S. The double-digit increase returns the share of Americans who consider
China the world’s top economy to levels last
seen in 2014. Older Americans are less likely to identify China as the world’s
leading economic power. While more than four-in-ten Americans in other age
groups point to China, only about a third of Americans ages 65 and older
express this view.
Views of the world’s leading economic power also differ by
partisanship. Republicans are 10 points more likely than Democratic
counterparts to see China as the world’s leading economic power. Republicans
are also more likely than they were before to name China: While just 28% of
Republicans considered China as the top economy in summer 2020, the share has
increased by 21 points to 49% in 2022. Democratic views on China as the
world’s foremost economy have remained largely unchanged. Evaluations of the U.S. economy play a role in what entity Americans
identify as the world’s top economic power. Americans who say the economic
situation is good are more likely to say the U.S. is the world’s leading
economy, while those who have a negative evaluation of the economic status
quo are more inclined to label China the top economy. Those who see economic competition with China as a very serious
problem are also more likely to see China as the top economic power. About
four-in-ten of those who say economic competition with China is no more than
a somewhat serious problem choose China as the top economic power; 52% of
Americans who consider the competition a very serious problem choose China. To Americans, U.S. remains the world’s
preeminent military power
Americans clearly see the U.S. as the world’s top military power
compared with China and Russia. Seven-in-ten say the U.S. is the world’s
leading military power, compared with about two-in-ten who name China and
one-in-ten who name Russia. Still, the share who say China is the highest
since the question was first asked in 2016, and has more than tripled from 6%
who held that view in 2020. Men are more likely than women to identify the U.S. over China or Russia
as the world’s top military power. Americans ages 65 and older are more
likely than their younger counterparts to hold this view. Partisanship also
plays a role, with Democrats – especially liberal Democrats – being more
likely than Republicans to say the U.S. is the top military on the world
stage. Confidence in Xi low across many
demographic groups
Similar to American views of China, ratings of Chinese President Xi
Jinping are low among Americans, split almost equally between those
with not too much confidence
(42%) and those with no confidence
at all (41%). Just 15% of Americans say they have confidence in Xi to do the
right thing regarding world affairs. Unlike patterns of confidence in Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, older Americans are more critical of Xi:
85% of adults ages 65 and older say they do not have confidence in Xi,
significantly more than the 77% of adults under 30 who say the same. Republicans and GOP leaners are more critical of Xi than Democrats
and Democratic leaners (89% vs. 77% respectively). Conservative Republicans
are especially critical, with 92% saying they have no or little confidence in
Xi. (PEW) APRIL 28, 2022 740-741-43-22/Polls Parents’ Views Of Their Kids’ Screen Time, Social Media Use Changed
During Covid-19
When Pew Research Center fielded a survey
of U.S. parents at the beginning of March 2020, we knew the
conversation around children and technology was at
the forefront of many parents’ minds. Yet no one knew just how relevant
that conversation would become in the months ahead.
The first year of the coronavirus
pandemic brought a variety
of challenges for parents, from helping their kids manage technology
to increased screen time. Those with young children wrestled with a lack
of child care and worried about their kids’ social
skills – concerns that are still relevant today as schools navigate
changing circumstances, parents manage changes in where
and how they work, and families await
vaccines for children under 5. In April 2021, the Center followed up with many of the same parents
we surveyed in March 2020 to check in on their children’s use of technology
and social media during the pandemic. This second survey focused on parents
who had a kid age 11 or younger in 2020, and it was fielded at a time when
some schools were temporarily
reverting to virtual learning and vaccines were not
yet approved for children under 12. Below, we take a closer look at
what these parents told us about their young child, including how the
experiences they reported in 2021 compared with their responses from 2020. More use of digital devices and some social
media sites Whether a result of the pandemic or simply of other events or changes
in a child’s life, the year following our first survey in March 2020 saw a
rising share of parents who said their young child had used digital devices
and social media.
In April 2021, about eight-in-ten parents of a child who was age 11
or younger at the time of the first interview (81%) said their kid ever used
or interacted with a tablet computer – even if just to watch videos or listen
to music – up from 68% in March 2020. About seven-in-ten (71%) said the same
thing about their kid’s use of a smartphone, up from 63% the year before. And
51% of parents with a young child said their child used a game console or
portable game device in 2021, up slightly from 2020. Among the four social media sites the survey covered, the largest
share of parents reported that the young child they were asked about used
TikTok: 21% said this in April 2021, up from 13% in 2020. There were small
changes in the share saying their child used Instagram or Facebook, while
Snapchat use stayed virtually the same. And the share who said their young
child used a social media site other than
TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram roughly doubled between 2020 and
2021, from 8% to 17%. Social media use differed dramatically depending on the age of the
child being followed over time; for example, relatively few parents who had a
child under 5 when the pandemic began said this child used social media in
either 2020 or 2021. But for some social media sites, there were changes for kids on both
ends of this age range. Among parents who had a child age 5 to 11 at the
outset of the pandemic, the share who said this child used TikTok rose 11
percentage points (21% in 2020 to 32% in 2021). For parents with a child who
was younger than 5 at the time of the first interview, there was a 4-point
uptick from 1% to 5%. There were also double-digit increases in the share of parents
answering about a child who was under 5 in March 2020 who said this child
used a tablet (51% in 2020 to 69% in 2021) or a game console or portable game
device (16% to 29%) over this period. Still, parents of a child this age were
far less likely than those whose child was age 5 to 11 at the outset of the
pandemic to report use of these digital devices in either year. Other variations in kids’ use of devices and social media were also
apparent. Even as many kids started using tech in 2021, others were not using these things in 2021 when
they had in 2020. Among parents with a young child who said their kid had
used a smartphone in 2020, for instance, 14% said their child was not using one in 2021. Similarly,
19% of parents who said their young child had used a game console or portable
game device in 2020 said that child was not doing
so in 2021. Growing parental concerns about screen time Amid these changes, parents increasingly expressed worry about the
amount of time their child was spending on devices.
When asked about screen time in April 2021, a quarter of all parents of a young child said
that their child spent too much time on a smartphone; about the same share
(23%) said their child spent too much time playing video games; and about
one-in-ten (8%) said the same about time on social media sites. For parents whose child used a gaming console or portable game device
in both 2020 and 2021, the share who said that child spent too much time playing
video games rose 20 points over the first year of the pandemic, from 31% to
51%. There was also a 14-point jump in the share of parents who said their
smartphone-using young child spent too much time on it, from 28% to 42% among
those whose child used one in both 2020 and 2021.
And while majorities of parents whose child used these devices in
2020 initially said their child’s time on them was about right, some parents
reported different views on screen time a year later when reinterviewed. Among parents who thought their child’s time playing video games was
appropriate in 2020, 44% said the same in 2021 – but a third said that their
child was now spending too much time doing this. Similarly, among those who
said their child’s time on smartphones was about right in 2020, about a
quarter (26%) said in 2021 that their child was now spending too much time
this way; 55% said it was still about right. Some changes in parents’ management of
screen time In both March 2020 and April 2021, majorities of parents whose child
was 5 to 11 at the start of the pandemic said they ever checked the websites
their child visits or the mobile apps they use; limited the times of day or
length of time when this child can use screens; or took away the child’s
smartphone or internet privileges as punishment. But the patterns of change
over time also show some movement in parents’ approaches. Some 16% of parents with a child this age said they did not limit
screen time for this child in 2021, despite having said they did so in 2020.
Conversely, 8% of these parents reported limiting their child’s screen time
in 2021, after having not done
this in 2020. There was a similar pattern when it comes to taking away
smartphone or internet privileges: 14% of parents who had a 5- to 11-year-old
child at the start of the pandemic didn’t do this in 2021 even though they
had in 2020, compared with 6% who moved in the opposite direction. The
Center’s other work also reflects these changing approaches to
screen time – some parents loosened their rules during the pandemic, while
others became stricter.
Some parents whose child was 5 to 11 in March 2020, for example,
became more attentive to what their child was doing online over time: 15% of
these parents said they checked their kid’s website or app usage in 2021 –
and that they had not done
this in 2020. Changes in parenting approaches also extended to the times of day
children could use screens. For example, about half of parents of a 5- to
11-year-old child in 2020 (48%) said in 2021 that they would allow their
child to use mobile devices just before bedtime. Some had loosened their
stance from a year prior: 16% reported being OK with this in 2021 after
saying the opposite in 2020. On the other hand, 8% tightened their restrictions
– they were no longer OK with their child using mobile devices just before
bed. Some 43% of parents consistently were not OK with it, while 32%
consistently were. The unique approach of this study – surveying parents about a
specific child and looking at how individual parents’ responses changed over
time – provides a window into children’s pandemic experiences with
technology. Still, parents may not always know what devices their children
use or exactly how much time they spend on them. And beyond these findings,
it is important to note that screen time can take many forms and that there
are healthy debates about whether and how screen
time affects children. (PEW) APRIL 28, 2022 740-741-43-23/Polls About A Quarter Of Latino Adults Say They Have Personally Experienced
Discrimination Or Unfair Treatment From Other Latinos
About a quarter of Latino adults say they have personally experienced
discrimination or unfair treatment from other Latinos. Having darker skin and
being born outside the United States are associated with an increased chance
of experiencing this type of discrimination, according to a Pew Research
Center survey conducted in March 2021. At the same time, Latinos say they are
as likely to experience discrimination or unfair treatment from non-Latinos
as from fellow Latinos, regardless of skin color or their country of birth. How we did this
Latinos experience discrimination in different ways. In 2021, 23% of
Latino Spanish speakers said they had been criticized for speaking Spanish in
public, and 20% of all Latinos said they were called offensive names in the
last 12 months. Sometimes, Latinos themselves discriminate against other
Latinos or make racially insensitive comments or jokes about other Latinos. Skin color is linked to greater Latino-on-Latino discrimination:
About four-in-ten Latinos with darker skin (41%) say they have experienced
discrimination or unfair treatment by another Latino, while 25% with lighter
skin color say the same. Nativity is linked too. Latinos born in Puerto Rico
or in another country are more likely than those born in the 50 U.S. states
or the District of Columbia to say they suffered discrimination or unfair
treatment by someone who is also Latino (32% vs. 23%). Still, Hispanics are just as likely to say they personally
experienced discrimination or unfair treatment from someone who is not Hispanic. Roughly a third (31%) say
so, with skin color also linked to the share of Hispanics who say this has
happened to them. Hispanics with darker skin were more likely than those with
lighter skin to say they experienced discrimination or were treated unfairly
by someone who is not Hispanic (42%
vs. 29%).
At the same time, about half (48%) of Hispanics say they hear racist
or racially insensitive comments or jokes often (13%) or sometimes (35%) from
Hispanic friends and family about other Hispanics. Younger Latinos, ages 18 to 29, are more likely than Latinos 50 and
older to say they hear these types of racially insensitive comments or jokes
about other Latinos. And Latinos with college experience are more likely than
those with lower levels of educational attainment to say the same. Hispanics are not just hearing racially incentive comments and jokes
about other Hispanics. They are also hearing their family and friends make
the same comments about non-Hispanics: 45% of Hispanic adults say they often
or sometimes hear Hispanic friends or family members make racist or racially
insensitive comments or jokes about others who are not Hispanic.
When it comes to discrimination based on race or skin color in their
place of origin, Latinos born in another country or Puerto Rico are generally
split on whether things are better or worse there than in the U.S.
Four-in-ten (40%) say discrimination based on race or skin color is about the
same in both the place of their birth and in the 50 U.S. states and D.C.,
while 17% say things are better and 15% say things are worse in their place
of birth compared with the 50 U.S. states. About a quarter (26%), though, say
discrimination based on race or skin color is not a problem in their place of
birth. The more
than 62 million Hispanics living in the U.S. are diverse in many
ways. They trace their heritage to countries in Latin America and Spain, and
have varied demographic
and economic backgrounds. And about half (48%) say discrimination based
on race or skin color is a very big problem in the U.S. (PEW) MAY 2, 2022 740-741-43-24/Polls As Telework Continues For Many U S Workers, No Sign Of Widespread
Zoom Fatigue
As remote
work continues for many Americans, more than half of workers who say
their jobs can mainly be done from home say they often use online platforms
to connect with co-workers (56%). Most of these workers say they are fine
with the amount of time they spend on video calls, but about one-in-four say
they are worn out by it, according to a January 2022 Pew Research Center
survey.
The use of video calling or online conferencing services, like Zoom
or Webex, is particularly common among those whose jobs can be done from home
and who are, in fact, working from home all or most of the time. About
two-thirds of these workers (66%) say they often use online conferencing
services, compared with 49% of those who work from home sometimes and 35% who
rarely or never do so. Workers who are new to teleworking during the pandemic
are more likely than those who had already been teleworking before the
COVID-19 outbreak to use videoconferencing: 77% of those who
currently work from home all or most of the time – but rarely or never
teleworked previously – say they use these services, compared with 48% who
currently telework and did so before the pandemic. Among those who have a job that can be done from home, men are more
likely than women to say they use online conferencing software often (61% vs.
51%). There are also age differences: 59% of workers ages 18 to 49 who have
jobs that can be done from home say they use these tools often, compared with
48% of similar workers 50 and older. College graduates with jobs that can be
done from home (68%) are also much more likely than those without a four-year
college degree (40%) to say they use online conferencing software often.
These differences hold up when looking only at those who are working from
home all or most of the time. Among those who regularly use videoconferencing tools for work, most
are not bothered by the amount of time spent on video calls. Roughly
three-quarters of working adults who use online conferencing services often
(74%) say they are fine with the amount of time they spend on video calls,
while 26% say they are worn out by it. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in October
2020 – when 71% of those whose jobs can be done from home were
teleworking all or most of the time – found that 37% of regular teleworkers
who often used online conferencing said they were worn out by the amount of
time spent on video calls, while 63% said they were fine with it. In the more recent survey, there are demographic divides in the
impact of frequently using these tools. Workers under 50 whose job can be
done from home and who use videoconferencing platforms often are more likely
than their counterparts ages 50 and older to feel worn out by the amount of
time they spend on video calls (29% vs. 18%). Feeling worn out is also more
prevalent among those with a bachelor’s degree or more education (31%) than
among those with less education (15%). (PEW) MAY 4, 2022 740-741-43-25/Polls Highly Religious Americans Are Much More Likely To Say That This
Technology Crosses The Line (72%)
Humanity may be on the cusp of a variety of innovations – including
brain chip implants, gene editing and exoskeletons – that could allow people
to dramatically enhance human health and abilities. But many Americans,
especially those who are highly religious and identify with certain Christian
traditions, express discomfort with these possibilities, according to a
recent Pew
Research Center report.
Among U.S. adults with a high level of religious commitment, 81% say
that the widespread use of computer chip brain implants for faster and more
accurate information processing would be “meddling with nature and crosses a
line we should not cross.” In contrast, Americans with a low level of religious
commitment are evenly divided on this question: 50% say that brain chip
implants cross a line that should not be crossed, and 49% more closely
identify with the notion that “we are always trying to better ourselves and
this idea is no different.” (In this study, levels of religious commitment are based on a
three-item index reflecting the importance of religion in a respondent’s
life, their frequency of religious service attendance and their frequency of
prayer.) When it comes to the widespread use of gene editing for babies to
greatly reduce their risk of serious diseases or conditions, highly religious
Americans again are much more likely to say that this technology crosses the
line (72%) than to say it’s just another form of human betterment (26%).
Among U.S. adults with low religious commitment, on the other hand,
acceptance is far more common than caution; almost two-thirds (64%) say that
“we are always trying to better ourselves” and that gene editing to enhance
babies’ health is no different. Another question did not elicit the same level of skepticism,
although highly religious Americans still were at the more cautious end of
the scale. When asked how they would feel about the widespread use of robotic
exoskeletons with built-in artificial intelligence to greatly increase
strength for manual labor, 48% of highly religious Americans say this would
be “meddling with nature and crosses a line we should not cross” and 50% say
“we are always trying to better ourselves and this idea is no different.” In
contrast, a large majority of adults with a low level of religious commitment
(78%) indicate that robotic exoskeletons to enhance strength would be a
positive development.
The vast majority of highly religious Americans are Christians, and
some Christian subgroups are more likely than others to express reservations
about the potential future human enhancement technologies that were mentioned
in the survey – at least when asked whether certain technologies are a form
of meddling with nature or whether they are an acceptable form of betterment. In particular, White evangelical Protestants are more skeptical than
other groups when asked about the potential use of brain implants and gene
editing to change human abilities. Roughly eight-in-ten White evangelicals
(79%) say that widespread chip implants in the brain would constitute
unacceptable meddling with nature, compared with about two-thirds of White
non-evangelical Protestants, Black Protestants and Catholics who take this
view. (The survey was conducted among Americans of all religious
backgrounds, including Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus, but it did not
obtain enough respondents from non-Christian groups to report separately on
their responses. Small subgroups of Christians could not be analyzed separately
for the same reason.) Similarly, roughly seven-in-ten White evangelicals (72%) say the
widespread use of gene editing for babies to reduce their risk of serious
diseases or conditions is meddling with nature, compared with 57% of Black
Protestants, 54% of White non-evangelical Protestants, and 51% of Catholics
who agree with this statement. When it comes to the question about exoskeletons with built-in
artificial intelligence to greatly enhance human strength for manual labor,
Black Protestants and White evangelical Protestants are the most likely to
express reservations. About half of Black Protestants (55%) and White
evangelicals (47%) say the use of exoskeletons to greatly enhance human
strength for manual labor would cross a line that should not be crossed. Across all three questions, religiously unaffiliated people – who are
also known as “nones” and are made up of those who describe their religious
identity as atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular” – are more
accepting than Christians of the potential use of these developing
technologies. Almost half of “nones” (46%) say the widespread use of brain
implants to enhance cognitive processing would be a form of betterment that’s
no different from other innovations, while majorities in this group say the
same about using gene editing to reduce babies’ risk of serious diseases or
conditions (58%) and utilizing robotic exoskeletons with built-in AI to
increase strength (72%). “Nones” who identify as atheist or agnostic are
especially open to these developments; atheists are the only religious group
in this analysis who are significantly more likely to view each of the
proposed innovations more positively than negatively. (PEW) MAY 4, 2022 740-741-43-26/Polls Gallup Found Just 9% Of Non-College Americans Believe Quality,
Affordable Higher Education Is Available To All Americans Who Want It
About a third of U.S. adults who have not completed a postsecondary
degree believe higher education is available to most Americans who want it.
In the 2022 State of Higher Education Study conducted by Lumina Foundation,
Gallup found just 9% of noncollege Americans believe quality, affordable
higher education is available to all Americans who want it, and another 21%
believe it is available to most. More than two-thirds (71%) of respondents
believe no more than half of Americans have access to quality education
beyond high school.
Perceived availability of higher education is similar among current
and prospective students, suggesting that even those obtaining a
postsecondary credential doubt its widespread availability. Just 9% of
students enrolled in associate degree, bachelor's degree or certificate
programs believe quality, affordable postsecondary education is available to
all those who want it, the same percentage as for those who are not currently
enrolled in these programs. A quarter of currently enrolled students report
these opportunities are available to most, compared with 20% among those who
are not currently pursuing a degree or certification. Results for the 2022 Lumina-Gallup State of Higher Education Study
are based on web surveys conducted Oct. 19, 2021, to Nov. 22, 2021, with a
nonprobability sample of U.S. adults aged 18-59 who had a high school diploma
or degree but had not yet completed an associate or bachelor's degree. Read
more about this research. Although most U.S. adults do not believe higher education is widely
available, 44% of adults say a two- or four-year degree is now more important
in securing a successful career than it was 20 years ago. Another 36% say it
is just as important, while 20% believe it is less important. Currently enrolled students -- many of whom may be pursuing their own
degree or certificate for career-related reasons -- are more likely than
their unenrolled peers to report that a degree is more important today than
it was 20 years ago.
More than half (57%) of currently enrolled students report a two- or
four-year degree is more important to having a successful career than it was
20 years ago, and about a third (31%) believe it is equally important. In
contrast, 42% of adults not currently enrolled in a postsecondary program
report that a two- or four-year degree is more important today, and 37%
believe it is equally important, confirming that many Americans who are not
pursuing a degree still see value in postsecondary credentials. Implications Amid pandemic-induced disruptions to higher
education and subsequent declines in enrollment, some Americans appear to be
questioning the perceived value and attractiveness of higher education. The
Lumina Foundation-Gallup 2022 State of Higher Education Study reveals that
most adults without a postsecondary credential doubt the widescale
availability of higher education, a perhaps unsurprising finding in light of
the 169% increase in the cost of college since 1980. Still, a plurality of
these Americans believe higher education is a more important stepping-stone
to a successful career than it has been in recent decades, providing hope for
policymakers and higher education leaders as they continue to explore new
approaches to making higher education affordable and accessible to all who
want it. (Gallup) MAY 4, 2022 740-741-43-27/Polls Working Moms In The U S Have Faced Challenges On Multiple Fronts
During The Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has created
new challenges and reinforced
existing ones for many working mothers in the United States. For
Mother’s Day, here is a look at American moms’ experiences juggling work and
parenting responsibilities during the COVID-19
outbreak, based on data from Pew Research Center surveys. In the early months of the pandemic, there
was an increase in the share of mothers who said they preferred not to work
for pay at all. In an October
2020 survey, about a quarter (27%) of mothers with children younger than
18 at home said that at that point in their life, the best work arrangement
for them personally would be not working for pay at all, up from 19% who said
so in a summer
2019 survey. The share of mothers
who said working full time would be best for them dropped from 51% to 44%
during that span, while around
three-in-ten in both surveys said they would prefer to work part-time.
Employed moms were more likely than working
dads to report experiencing professional hurdles during the pandemic, according
to the
same October 2020 survey. Among working parents with children under age
18 at home, mothers were generally more likely than fathers to say that,
since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, they faced a variety of
professional challenges.
For example, 54% of working moms said they felt like they could not
“give 100%” at work because they were balancing work and parenting
responsibilities, compared with 43% of working dads who said this. Working
moms were also more likely than dads to say they needed to reduce their work
hours because of parenting responsibilities (34% vs. 26%) and to report being
treated as if they weren’t committed to their work because they have children
(19% vs. 11%). These patterns mirrored those found before the coronavirus outbreak
in the summer
of 2019 when working parents were asked if these things had ever
happened to them. In general, mothers view themselves as
shouldering more child care duties than their spouses or partners do, while
dads are more likely to say these responsibilities are evenly shared, according
to the
October 2020 survey. About three-quarters of moms in opposite-sex
relationships (74%) said they did more to manage their children’s schedules
and activities than their spouse or partner; only 3% said their spouse or
partner took on more of these responsibilities. Roughly half of mothers (54%)
said they did more than their spouse or partner to be an involved parent,
while just 3% said their spouse or partner did more. Most fathers in
opposite-sex relationships (63%) said being an involved parent was equally shared between them and their spouse
or partner; a smaller share of mothers (43%) said the same. Similarly,
fathers were more likely than mothers to say that they and their partner or
spouse shared the management of their kids’ schedules and activities (36% vs.
23%). These findings also largely
reflect patterns from before the pandemic.
Earlier this year, about half of working
parents said the coronavirus outbreak had made it difficult to handle child
care responsibilities, and moms were especially likely to report this
problem. Around six-in-ten moms (58%) said this
had been at least somewhat difficult in recent weeks, compared with 43% of
working dads, according to a February
2022 survey of working parents with children younger than 12 at
home. These figures were similar to those reported by working moms and dads
in October 2020, when many schools and child care centers were not
operating in person.
More than a third of moms who teleworked
during the early months of the pandemic said they had a lot of child care
responsibilities while working from home, according
to the
October 2020 survey. Among employed parents who were working remotely all
or most of the time and had children younger than 18 at home, 36% of moms
said they had a lot of child care duties during this time – roughly double
the share of dads who said the same (16%). Moms and dads were about equally
likely to say they had at least some child
care responsibilities while working from home (66% vs. 65%).
Many moms and dads who worked from home
early on in the coronavirus pandemic reported difficulties getting their work
done without interruptions, the October
2020 survey found. About half of mothers (52%) and fathers (48%) with
children under 18 at home who worked remotely all or most of the time said
that since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, it had been very or
somewhat difficult for them to get their work done without interruptions. A
much smaller share of teleworkers without minor
children at home (20%) reported the same.
Around six-in-ten moms felt that they spent
about the right amount of time with their children in 2020. In
an October
2020 survey, 58% of mothers with children under 18 at home said they
spent the right amount of time with their children, compared with 28% who
said they spent too little time with their kids and 13% who said they spent
too much time with them. Nearly half of fathers
(46%) said they spent the right amount of time with their children. A similar
share (48%) said they spent too little time with their kids, and only 5% of
dads said that they spent too much time with their children. (PEW) MAY 6, 2022 740-741-43-28/Polls 61% Of People In The United States Say The Spread Of Misinformation
About The War Is A Major Problem
A majority of U.S. adults say misinformation around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is
a major problem, and they largely fault the Russian government for
spreading those
falsehoods. A new poll from The
Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows 61%
of people in the United States say the spread of misinformation about the war
is a major problem, with only 7% saying it’s not a problem. Older adults were
more likely to identify the wartime misinformation as an issue, with 44% of
those under 30 calling it a problem, compared with 65% of those 30 or older. Misleading social
media posts, fake pictures or videos and propagandized headlines have
proliferated on websites, from
TikTok to Facebook, since Russia’s
assault on Ukraine began in February. In recent weeks, Russian state
media and social media accounts have operated in lockstep to push tweets, TV
reports and posts that claim photos of bombed buildings and bodies
across Ukraine have been staged or faked. Even well-meaning,
everyday social media users have fallen victim to the falsehoods,
accidentally sharing or liking posts and images that turned out to be
inaccurate. About three-quarters of the American public fault the Russian
government for advancing misinformation around the war, while many also blame
social media users, tech companies and the news media. Far fewer place a
great deal of blame on the Ukrainian or U.S. governments. Russia’s falsehoods about the war are finding millions of eyeballs
across social media and in state-media reports. Earlier this month, for
example, a chorus of Kremlin media reports, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts
and Telegram channels tried
to refute photographs and satellite images of bodies
left by Russian soldiers in the streets of Bucha, Ukraine, by
calling the images a “hoax.” “Russia’s reach is broad,” said Darren Linvill, a Clemson University
professor who studies disinformation. “They have a lot of different outlets
that they use — everything from state media, in Russian, English and especially
Spanish.” The poll shows a majority of U.S. residents, about 57%, say they
think Russian President Vladimir Putin has directed Russian troops to commit
war crimes, while 6% say they think he has not done so. An additional 36% say
they don’t know enough to say. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the AP and the PBS series
“Frontline” have verified evidence of 178 potential war
crimes. The poll shows about 6 in 10 Americans say social media users have
significant responsibility for the spread of misinformation about Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine. Roughly half also fault social media companies and the
news media. Retiree Kellie Carroll, 58, who lives outside Fresno, California,
said she is sometimes frustrated by social media users who share posts about
the Russia-Ukraine war but don’t cite the source of their information. “You’ll see things that people are stating as fact, like they are
there,” Carroll said of posts she’s seen on social media around the war. Carroll, who watches local news and listens to conservative talk
radio, added that she, too, finds fault with news reporting on the war. She
described it as difficult to find news reports around the war that are not
injected with opinion. “I don’t want the opinions, I just want the facts,” she said. Half of Americans also blame the
Chinese government, which has refused to condemn Russia’s actions in
Ukraine, for spreading misinformation around the war. Indeed, China’s state-run media outlets have made at least 74
English-language Facebook posts referencing a
conspiracy theory that the U.S. is running secret biological warfare
labs in Ukraine that have intentionally released deadly viruses, according to a new report from NewsGuard, a technology
firm that monitors misinformation. (The U.S. runs biolabs in Ukraine. It’s
not a secret, and they’re not crafting bioweapons there.) “A lot of this is definitely geared toward the United States,” said
Jack Brewster, an analyst for the firm. “They’re echoing the same talking
points that Russia is.” Somewhat fewer blame the spread of war misinformation on U.S.
politicians, with 44% saying they bear significant responsibility and 32%
saying the same about the U.S. government. Roger Beaulieu, a 66-year-old New Yorker, said the Russian government
is responsible for much of the misinformation around the war. But he’s been
surprised when he reads The New York Times or watches MSNBC or CNN to see
what he describes as misinformation coming from some Republican lawmakers
about the war. Beaulieu specifically mentioned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene,
R-Ga., who last month said that Ukraine invited Russia’s invasion by “poking
the bear.” “It just seems that there’s more support for Russia than I can
possibly understand,” Beaulieu said. Large majorities of Democrats and Republicans say Russia has a large
share of responsibility for spreading misinformation, and 70% of Democrats
along with 55% of Republicans say Putin has directed Russian troops to commit
war crimes. About a quarter of Democrats and roughly a third of Republicans say
they don’t know. But Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say social media
companies (63% vs. 50%), the news media (61% vs. 38%) and politicians in the
U.S. (52% vs. 38%) also bear a significant amount of blame for misinformation
about the war. About a quarter of Americans overall said the Ukrainian government is
significantly responsible for the spread of misinformation. Republicans were
more likely to say the Ukrainian government had significant blame for
spreading misinformation than Democrats, 32% to 15%. About 4 in 10 Americans
say the Ukrainian government has little responsibility for the spread of
misinformation. (AP News) April 28, 2022 740-741-43-29/Polls Six In Ten (63%) Canadians Who Don’t Own A Home Have Given Up On Ever
Owning One
With the price of homes in Canada skyrocketing over the past two
years, the dream of home ownership is slipping away from those not already in
the market. According to a new Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global
News, six in ten (63%) Canadians who don’t already own a home agree (23%
strongly/40% somewhat) that they have given
up on ever owning a home. Moreover, two in three (67%) Canadians agree (22% strongly/45%
somewhat) that owning a home in Canada
is now only for the rich, with non-owners being even more likely
to agree (76%). Those aged 18-34 (71%) and 35-54 (73%) are significantly more
likely than Canadians aged 55+ (60%) to agree. Regionally, Ontarians (72%)
and British Columbians (69%) – where housing prices are highest – are most
likely to agree, followed by those living in Atlantic Canada (65%), Quebec
(64%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (63%) and Alberta (61%). The rapid appreciation of the value of homes has created further
economic disparity between those who own a home and those who don’t. While
seven in ten (71%) Canadians agree (15% strongly/56% somewhat) that
they are optimistic about their
long-term future, those who own a home are significantly more
likely to express optimism (74%) than those who don’t own (67%). While eight in ten (77%) Canadians agree (19% strongly/58% somewhat)
that it is possible to be financially
secure and not own a home, most (77%) also agree (25% strongly/53%
somewhat) that owning a home is the
best investment a person can make, a feeling held more commonly
among those aged 55+ (82%) and 35-54 (78%) than younger adults (71%). In
fact, a majority (57%) of Canadians disagrees (17% strongly/41% somewhat)
that owning a home is less important
now than it was 25 years ago, although those aged 18-34 are more
likely to agree that it is less important (49%) now than those aged 35-54
(43%) and 55+ (38%). The federal government has attempted to respond to the challenges
facing first-time homebuyers through a series of policy measures aimed at
increasing supply, curbing demand and helping first-time buyers save, but
most Canadians (75%) disagree (34% strongly/42% somewhat) that the federal government is doing enough to address
the housing affordability issue in Canada. Even two in three (66%)
Liberal voters disagree that the federal government is doing enough. Regarding the difficulties they face buying a home, non-owners were
asked to reflect on recent policy announcements and strategies they could
employ in order to afford a home:
There is a sense of urgency among may non-owners for the government
to act, lest home ownership become further out of sight. In fact, four in ten
(43%) non-owners agree (11% strongly/31% somewhat) that they won’t feel that they have accomplished what they
need to in their life until they own their own home, a sentiment
which is shared by a majority of those aged 18-34 (55%) who don’t yet own a
home. Many who feel that home ownership might be out of reach have changed
their frame of mind and are looking to embrace other aspects of life instead:
six in ten (59%) non-owners agree (12% strongly/47% somewhat) that since
owning a home is so far out of reach for them, they’re considering focusing
less on earning money and more on enjoying themselves. Interestingly, this is
a sentiment more commonly shared among non-owners aged 55+ (67%) and 35-54
(62%) than younger adults (50%). (Ipsos Canada) 29 April 2022 Source: https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/news-polls/Six-in-Ten-Canadians-Dont-Own-Home-Given-Up-Ever-Owning 740-741-43-30/Polls One In Three (32%) Working Canadians Say They’d Look For Another Job
If Their Employer Forced Them To Work Exclusively At The Office/Workplace
Many working Canadians want the changes that the pandemic brought to
the workplace to be permanent and are willing to change jobs to find an employer
that allows them to work from home, according to a new Ipsos poll conducted
on behalf of Global News. One in three (32%) say that they’d look for another job if their
employer forced them to work exclusively from the office, a sentiment more
widely held among those aged 18-34 (42%) than those aged 35-54 (29%) and 55+
(22%). Residents of Quebec (39%) are most likely to say so, followed by those
living in Atlantic Canada (33%), Ontario (32%), British Columbia (30%),
Alberta (23%) and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (21%). Moreover, 15% have already changed jobs in the past year so that they
could continue to work from home, once again more common among those aged
18-34 (24%) than working Canadians aged 35-54 (11%) or 55+ (6%). Nearly half (44%) acknowledge that their employer has now adopted
flexible working arrangements where they didn’t exist prior to the pandemic.
Workers in Ontario are most likely (51%) to say their workplace has adopted a
flexible model, followed by those living in Atlantic Canada (43%), BC (43%),
Quebec (38%), Alberta (34%) and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (28%).
Interestingly, among those who are optimistic about the future, 49% agree
that their employer has adopted flexible policies, while only 26% of those
who are pessimistic about the future say their workplace has adopted a
flexible workplace. But flexibility goes both ways, and many are willing to give up some
of their pay in order to achieve flexibility: nearly four in ten (36%) say
they would take a job for less pay if they could work at home instead of the
office. While many like the flexibility of working from home, this doesn’t
mean that all Canadians are willing to eschew the workplace permanently for
the comfy confines of their home office. In fact, four in ten (42%) say that
the pandemic has taught them that they are happiest working at their place of
work rather than at home. Perhaps surprisingly, nearly half (48%) of those
aged 18-34 say this is the case. (Ipsos Canada) 6 May 2022 AUSTRALIA
740-741-43-31/Polls Mums To Be Spoiled On Mother’s Day With $754 Million To Be Spent On
Gifts
People who plan on buying a gift will spend an average amount of $80,
with 90% planning to spend the same or more than they did last year. (Roy Morgan) April 25 2022 Source: https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/8953-ara-media-release-mothers-day-202204252317 740-741-43-32/Polls ANZ Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence Up 6.5pts To 84.4 In
April 2022
The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index recovered slightly in
April. Over the month Omicron waned, but the RBNZ raised the Official Cash
Rate by 50bp and strong inflation was confirmed in the official data.
(Roy Morgan) April 29 2022 MULTICOUNTRY
STUDIES
740-741-43-33/Polls London Maintains Top “City Brand” Ranking From 2020 To 2022 Among
Cities Of 10 Countries
London preserves its spot as the world’s
most admired city in the 2022 edition of the
Anholt-Ipsos City Brands Index. Paris,
Sydney, New York, and Rome round out the top-5, but there has
been some movement in the bottom half of the top-10 cities:
London Retains Top City Brand in Overall
CBI London has the most positive image of any
major city worldwide after achieving the top
CBI ranking in 2020. London’s reputational strengths come from positive perceptions on the Presence, People, Pulse,
and Potential Indices where they earn top-10 marks. Global
respondents have the most positive perceptions toward London’s being a good place to get a higher education, ease of
finding a job in the city, a city where you are likely to “fit in” and find
people who understand and appreciate your culture, and having a good standard
of public amenities – all categories where London is the top
city in 2022. Washington D.C. and Barcelona Enter the
Top-10 Washington D.C. moved into the top-10 this
year, coming in sixth-place. Top-5 rankings on
the Presence and Potential Indices, as well as relatively steady rankings on
Prerequisites, Pulse, and Place help contribute to Washington D.C.’s climb in
the rankings. Barcelona’s seventh place ranking in CBI
2022 is largely driven by top-10 performances
on the Place, Pulse, Prerequisites, and People Indices. Barcelona earns 2nd
place rankings in the perception of its warm and friendly people and having a
pleasant climate. Toronto and Berlin Improve in Ranking Toronto and Berlin are two cities with notable climbs in the CBI 2022
rankings. Toronto, which
narrowly missed the top-10 in 2020, now
sits in eighth place with positive opinions of its
Prerequisites, People, and Potential. After also just missing the top-10 in
2020, Berlin improves to tenth (tied
with San Francisco) due to top-15 rankings on the Presence and Pulse Indices. Tokyo’s Reputation Rebounds Tokyo has seen shifts in its city brand ranking over the past few
waves. The city ranked 10th in 2011, 17th in 2013, 15th in 2015, 11th in
2017, and 16th in 2020. Tokyo now
re-enters the top-10 in 2022 for the first time in 11 years with a
ninth-place ranking. Tokyo saw improvements across all
Indices but most notably on the Place and People Indices where it gained 11
and 5 positions, respectively. Tokyo also lands in the top-5 on the Pulse and
Presence Indices. Index Leaders Across all six Indices, the
top-5 rankings are mostly occupied from cities in three geographical regions
– Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. Latin American and
African / Middle Eastern cities are not among the top-5 on any Index. The top-5 Presence Index leaders are all
top-10 CBI cities – three of which are in the
top-5 overall. The top-5 on Presence is also represented by multiple regions
– two from Europe (London and Paris), two from North America (New York and
Washington D.C.), and one from the Asia Pacific region (Tokyo). The top-5 cities on the Place Index includes one Asia
Pacific city (Sydney) and four European cities (Vienna, Rome, Paris, and
Barcelona). The Prerequisites Index top-5
is comprised of cites from three different regions – North America (Toronto
and Vancouver), Asia Pacific (Sydney), and Europe (Amsterdam and Berlin). The People Index top-5
is made up of cities across three regions – Asia Pacific (Sydney), North America
(Toronto and Vancouver), and Europe (Vienna and London). All of the top-5 cities on the Pulse
Index landed in the top-10 on overall CBI. This index is also
made up of cities from three regions – Europe (Paris, London, and Rome),
North America (New York), and Asia Pacific (Tokyo). The final index on the hexagon, Potential, consists of cities from three regions, all of
which are a part of the overall top-10. Three North American cities make up
the top-5 on Potential (New York, Toronto, and Washington D.C.), one European
(London), and one Asia Pacific (Sydney).
Top-10 NBI Nations and their Cities Cities from top-performing Nation Brands Index (NBI) nations can
benefit from an image boost from their respective nation reputation, and
vice-versa. While there are parallels in the way global respondents rank
nations in the Nation Brands Index (NBI) and the City Brands Index (CBI),
there is a pattern that can be identified in three different ways:
Simon Anholt added: “After two of the most turbulent years in
modern history, the world’s favorite cities are still the same ones as they
were in 2020. This reinforces the finding from the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands
Index that the pandemic has had little impact on our perceptions of the rest
of the world: we still admire the same countries and cities, and for the same
reasons. The images of places are remarkably resilient, and it’s almost as
hard to damage a positive image as it is to improve a negative one. So city governments worried that the
pandemic, or their effectiveness at responding to it, might have damaged
their international image and consequently their ability to attract trade,
tourism and investment, probably don’t need to worry. With very few
exceptions, the pandemic has served to reinforce what people already believed
about cities and countries has affected almost all of them equally. Even in
cases where the overall image of a country has suffered from the pandemic (as
has been the case with China, for example), its cities generally escape
damage: Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai have suffered far smaller score drops
in the CBI than China in the NBI. The fieldwork for the 2022 CBI was
conducted before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine so there has been no change in
Moscow’s 31st place: based on previous findings, however, international
public opinion is highly intolerant of armed conflict so there’s every reason
to expect that Moscow’s position in the next edition will be significantly
lower.” (Ipsos Australia) 25 April 2022 Source: https://www.ipsos.com/en-au/anholt-ipsos-city-brands-index-2022 740-741-43-34/Polls 61% Of Respondents Worldwide Think The War In Ukraine Poses A
Significant Risk To Their Country, A 27 Country Study
A new Ipsos survey reveals that on average across 27 countries, 70%
of adults say they closely follow the news about Russia's invasion of Ukraine
and 61% think it poses a significant risk to their country. The
majorities in each of the countries surveyed are in favor of welcoming
Ukrainian refugees and opposed to military involvement in the
conflict. However, opinions on economic sanctions and the supply of arms
to the Ukrainian army differ widely from country to country. The survey was conducted among 19,000 adults aged under 75 between
March 25 and April 3 on Ipsos' Global Advisor online survey platform.
The world is watching Those who follow news about the war in Ukraine represent between 57%
and 77% of respondents in all but three of the 27 countries. The only
exceptions are Japan (89%) and Sweden (83%) at one end of the spectrum and
Malaysia (49%) at the other end. Overall, people over the age of 50 (78%), business decision makers
(76%) and people with a university education (73%) are particularly likely to
pay close attention to events in Ukraine . Widespread support for Ukrainians Overall, three quarters (74%) of respondents agree that their country
should welcome Ukrainian refugees, but six in ten (61%) say they do not have
the means to support Ukraine financially. In each of the 27 nations, most citizens surveyed agree that their
country should welcome Ukrainian refugees from the current
conflict. Agreement is particularly high in Poland (84%), the country
that has received the largest number of Ukrainian refugees so far. It is
highest in Sweden (89%), the Netherlands (86%) and Spain (85%). It is
lowest in Turkey (53%), which already hosts four million refugees, mainly
from Syria. Large majorities in all emerging economies agree that, given the
current economic crisis, their countries cannot afford to provide financial
support to Ukraine. However, more than half of respondents in several
high-income countries, including Sweden (67%), the Netherlands (63%) and
France (55%), disagree. A great risk for the world On average, 82% of respondents in 27 countries say the war in Ukraine
poses a big or fairly big risk to the world as a whole; 61% say this is
the case for their country. It is in Japan (87%), Poland (77%), South
Korea (77%) and Sweden (75%) that the perception that their own country is
facing a significant risk is the most widespread. Globally, about a third of respondents say it poses at least a medium
risk to them personally (36%), their family (34%) and their job or business
(37%). The countries whose citizens are most likely to feel personally
exposed to the war in Ukraine are India (56%), Poland (50%), Japan (53%) and
Italy (48%). No consensus on support for Ukraine's
military response On average around the world, majorities say their country should
support sovereign countries when they are under attack (70%) and that doing
nothing in Ukraine will encourage Russia to take further military action
elsewhere (68%). At the same time, majorities also say their country
should avoid getting involved militarily (72%) and that military action in
Ukraine will encourage attacks on other countries (68%). Besides being
ambivalent and cautious, global public opinion on how to respond to Russian
aggression in Ukraine is also divided:
The differences are more marked when it comes to providing military
support or sending troops to Ukraine. On average, around the world,
about a third of respondents support their country providing weapons - such
as rifles and anti-tank weapons - to the Ukrainian military (36%), funding
the Ukrainian military (33 %) and sends troops to NATO countries neighboring
Ukraine (32%). However, each of these proposals garners majority support
in several countries:
However, those who support sending their own troops to Ukraine are a
minority in each of the 27 countries, with an average of 17%. To discuss or not to discuss Opinions on whether a country should maintain diplomatic ties with
Russia vary widely. Globally, an average of 38% support it, 29% oppose
it and 33% are unsure. Support ranges from 63% in Turkey to just 19% in
Poland. Countries where support for maintaining diplomatic engagement is
highest include not only some of those where the majority of people think
Ukraine's problems are none of our business (Saudi Arabia, India, Israel)
and/or where the will to support the Ukrainian army is weak (Turkey), but
also the three largest countries of the EU (Germany, France and Italy). (Ipsos France) April 27, 2022 740-741-43-35/Polls Europeans express strong support for a greener energy market, survey
among 7 countries
Support for greener energy is also likely to be driven, in part, by
the financial impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the resulting rise in
energy bills, rather than the real need to address the climate issue. In all the countries surveyed, the majority of the population would
support a government policy that establishes renewable energy as the only
option. The Italians (80%) and the Spanish (75%) especially support this
initiative. The Germans, on the other hand, are the least convinced,
since only 53% support this policy. Although there is significant support for government intervention in
this area, the population is somewhat less inclined to change their behavior
on their own initiative: 66% of Spaniards and 62% of Italians would be
willing to change their energy supplier for one that only uses renewable
energy. In Germany, only 3 out of 10 Germans (32%) say the same.
Faced with rising electricity bills, citizens are increasingly
looking for ways to make their homes more energy efficient, as recent YouGov
surveys show. In all countries - except Germany - the percentage of
adults who say they would be willing to cover the cost of energy renovation
themselves exceeds that of those who would not. Once again, the Spanish
and the Italians are the most convinced: 48% of the Spanish and 42% of the
Italians would be willing to bear the costs. The survey suggests that the main obstacle is not the principle of
home energy efficiency, but the cost involved. When asked about possible
government subsidies to cover this type of expense, significant support is
observed from all countries. More than half of British, French and
Spanish respondents are very much in favor of this type of process. In
the case of Spain, they are among the most supportive, behind only the French
and Italians: 86% say they support government subsidies for energy
efficiency. In addition, 48% (first position among the countries
analyzed) say that they would be willing to cover the costs of energy
rehabilitation by themselves.
(YouGov Spain) Source: https://es.yougov.com/news/2022/05/02/eurotrack-los-europeos-expresan-un-amplio-apoyo-un/ 740-741-43-36/Polls Public Opinion In The 6 European Union States Believes That The Eu
Should Be Responsible For Climate Change Policy
There is a strong consensus among Europeans that different countries
should work together to tackle the issue of climate change and any solution
will be more effective if multilateral. But does this mean that Europeans think the EU is the right leader to
dictate the rules on climate change?
The answer seems to be yes. The data shows that respondents from
six member countries surveyed are much more likely to say that "the EU
should make decisions on how to tackle climate change on behalf of all member
countries" rather than "the government of each nation should make
decisions on how to tackle climate change, regardless of the EU ”. In Spain they strongly believe that the EU should be responsible for
these decisions, with 68% of Spaniards preferring this type of
approach. This is also the opinion of 58% of Italians, most of the
French (55%) and half of the Germans (52%). The Nordic nations surveyed, Denmark (52%) and Sweden (48%) also
support the EU's decision-making power on climate change.
(YouGov Italy) Source: https://it.yougov.com/news/2022/05/03/gli-europei-affermano-lue-dovrebbe-guidare-la-rifo/ 740-741-43-37/Polls Globally, One In Three (35%) Internet Users Are Likely To Invest In
Bitcoin Or Another Cryptocurrency As A Short-Term Investment, A Survey In 20
Economies
Americans are more likely than Canadians to invest in Bitcoin or
other cryptocurrencies or to use them as a form of payment for goods and
services in the next year, according to an Ipsos survey conducted by a
research team led by Fen Osler Hampson (Carleton University), Eric Jardine
(Virginia Tech) and Sean Simpson (Ipsos Public Affairs) and part of a larger
Social Sciences and Humanities funded research project. While Canadians lag their American counterparts, both countries fall
behind the average of the 20 countries/economies surveyed (see the
methodology statement below for a complete list). Globally, one in three (35%) internet users are likely to invest in
Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency as a short-term investment (USA 24%; Canada
17%). While only 10% say they’re very likely to do so, another 25% are
somewhat likely to do so, indicating some level of interest in this form of
investment. Similar proportions are likely to invest in cryptocurrencies as a
speculative long-term investment (36% country average; 24% USA; 19% Canada). Moreover, Americans are more likely than Canadians to use Bitcoin or
other cryptocurrencies to purchase goods and services (24% USA vs 18%
Canada), to avoid cross-border banking fees (19% vs 14%), to shelter their
wealth from taxes (17% vs 11%) and to send remittances across national
borders (14% vs 11%). These proportions are relatively similar to those in
Europe. Still, they are significantly lower than those in Latin America
(LATAM), Asia-Pacific (APAC), and the Middle East/Africa, where
cryptocurrencies are often used to buy goods and services. “Given the big differences in attitudes between Canadians and
Americans towards cryptocurrencies, there may be diminishing political
capital in the Canadian population at large for those who want to promote the
idea that consumers will use cryptocurrencies instead of the Loonie,” says
Fen Hampson, Chancellor’s Professor at Carleton University. “However, in the
United States, it is a different story.” The chart below outlines the proportion of global citizens who say
they are at least somewhat likely to use cryptocurrencies in the next year
for various reasons, along with the proportion of Canadians and Americans who
say the same. While both countries rate below the average of the 20
countries/economies tested, Canada is routinely near the bottom of the list.
“It is notable that intended uptake of cryptocurrencies is lower in
Canada than in most countries surveyed. Conservative leadership hopeful
Pierre Poilievre has advocated for cryptocurrencies and their ability to help
users ‘opt out of inflation’,” says Sean Simpson of Ipsos. “He is preaching
to a relatively small choir on this topic”. In the United States,
Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis has been a vocal supporter of cryptocurrencies
and has been leading efforts to regulate and normalize their use. Her
fundraising website even accepts donations in Bitcoin. “The Senator might
have a more receptive audience in the USA than Poilievre has in Canada”,
continues Simpson. The data also revealed that the intended use of cryptocurrencies is
significantly higher among younger generations. In the United States, four in
ten (40%) Americans aged 18-34 are at least somewhat likely to use a
cryptocurrency to buy a good or service in the next year, while fewer of
those aged 35-49 (28%) or 50-74 (9%) are open to the idea. In Canada, while
the figures are lower overall, the trend holds: those aged 18-34 are most
inclined to say they’re at least somewhat likely (29%) to use a cryptocurrency
in the next year to buy a good or service, while fewer Canadians aged 35-49
(22%) or 50-74 (6%) say the same. “Today, many young people feel blocked out of economic opportunity.
Cryptocurrencies offer a message of hope and economic inclusion to those who feel
the current system is somewhat rigged against them”, notes Dr. Eric Jardine
of Virginia Tech. This may be why Mr. Poilievre is using the issue to reach
out to younger voters. It might be too early for crypto to become a
winning political issue, in Canada or the US, but it may also be just a
matter of time.” (Ipsos Canada) 3 May 2022 Source: https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/news-polls/americans-more-likely-than-canadians-to-invest-in-bitcoin 740-741-43-38/Polls A YouGov Poll In 18 Countries Around The World About Celebrating
Mother's Day
Mother's Day is celebrated in Germany every second Sunday in May,
this year on the coming Sunday, May 8th. It is an occasion for children
and adults alike to show their mothers gratitude, love and appreciation and,
if possible, to spoil them a bit. But do people celebrate this holiday
out of their own interest, because it is a "right" occasion for
them, or is the day actually only celebrated because of commercial
pressure? Do consumers feel prompted by retail to buy gifts and material
gifts? A recent YouGov survey of 19,000 respondents in 18 countries and
regions shows mixed perceptions of Mother's Day. Apart from the Poles, Europeans tend to be
skeptical The Poles, at 85 percent worldwide, are by far the most likely to
think that Mother's Day is still celebrated for the right reasons. Only
10 percent think this tag is too commercialized. Aside from Poland, the view that Mother's Day is still celebrated as
a 'proper' special occasion is least widespread in European
countries. The Danes are the most skeptical: only 27 percent of
respondents in Denmark agree with the above statement. In Sweden it is
34 percent. Germany ranks third on this scale: 36 percent of Germans
believe that Mother's Day is celebrated more because it is a "real"
special occasion. However, half of the German respondents (51 percent)
disagree and see the motivation for celebrating Mother's Day in the
commercialization of the same. Mother's Day most commonly seen as the
"proper" occasion in Asia Respondents in the United Arab Emirates are the second most likely,
after Poles, to feel that Mother's Day is being celebrated as a special and
“right” occasion (66 percent) and not under commercial pressure. 64
percent of the Chinese say this, 61 percent in Indonesia and 60 percent in
India. Mexico in Central America ranks fourth (63 percent).
(YouGov Germany) May 6, 2022 Source: https://yougov.de/news/2022/05/06/laut-den-europaern-ist-der-muttertag-zu-kommerzial/ |
