Over the Wire

Is This A Trick Question?

Post by Samantha Braverman, Researcher for the Harris Poll

When I first read Adweek’s survey question: “Given a choice of the following, which one would you most want to be?”, with the given choices being richer, thinner, smarter or younger, I immediately thought: brilliant. 

Immediately after that, I thought: is this a trick question? 

I assumed, if you were smarter, maybe you could invent something, get a better job, or in some other way figure out how to become richer.  If you were younger, maybe you could do the same – make different decisions earlier in life, go into a different field of work, etc, which could also result in making you richer.  As a younger person, you could take school more seriously than you might have, which may not actually make you smarter, but it could certainly make you more well educated.  In the same vein, if you were younger maybe you would also be thinner, before bad habits have fully taken hold.  Or, if you were richer you could hire a personal trainer and a chef, which one would hope could make you thinner.  As these rationales go on, the question becomes: does one answer trump the others? 

Ultimately it’s a fun question  to ponder and you could play it however you like.  But, at the end of the day the one thing I decided that I most would want, is for “happier” to have been included in the options.  As much as some people have financial stress that is burdensome, or are extremely dissatisfied with their weight or appearance, in my mind if you are happy—who cares?  In the actual survey 43% of Americans, the largest percentage seen, said that they would choose to be richer.  But, I wonder how the results would look if happier was also an option. 

Does happiness trump all, or would people rationalize that money can buy that, too?

Saving Green on the Little Things

The Harris Poll Wrap-Up is back! This time, Dan and Whitney hit the streets of New York City, asking folks what little things they are cutting back on to save money.

 

 

America’s Operating Systems

Share |

  

So if you are anything like me, you have a “to do” list a mile long and you feel a sense of accomplishment every time you cross something off and lament what just keeps moving forward from one day to the next with no end in sight.  

My general impression is that these lists and systems are what keep us Americans afloat and stop us from turning into a puddle of emoticons at the end of each multi-tasking day.  And so, we have a pyramid for our food choices, a catalog for our library books, a “feng shui” for our rooms, and a store for our Containers.

But at the macro-level, according to a new Harris Poll, the majority of us rate almost every system in American life as fair/poor.  We are decidedly un-impressed by our:

• System of government (57%)
• Legal system (63%)
• Health care system (67%)
• Economic system (68%)
• Political system (72%)

In each case, I’m not sure which system we would like better (or even if we could find any collective agreement), but luckily we rate our “TV, movies and entertainment” highly so we can get our mind off perfecting all that other stuff.

Share |

Data Snapshot

Harris Poll Happiness Index edged downward from 35% of Americans who said they were very happy in both 2008 and 2009 to 33% who say the same in 2010.

For full data and methodology, click here.

We've Come A Long Way, Baby

Share |

Here we are on the 50th anniversary of FDA approval of the birth control pill, and according to a Harris Poll released last week, our attitudes about the pill – generally speaking – remain positive:

• Almost 9 in 10 Americans say the availability of the pill has been good for society – and 56% say it has been very good.  Even 80% of Republicans say (though somewhat more tepidly) that access to the pill is good (either somewhat or very good).
• Approximately 9 in 10 Americans believe the pill is effective at preventing pregnancy – and 59% say it is very effective.  Regardless of gender and age.

However, access to the pill does not appear to have fully abated our apprehension about pregnancy (the unplanned kind).  Sixteen years ago, 90% of Americans said that unplanned pregnancies were a problem in the United States – and 60% said a “really big problem.”  Today these numbers have dropped significantly to 71% and 32% respectively but unfortunately are still too high.  

The going belief remains that a decline in moral standards (which were apparently declining 16 years ago and are still declining today) and a lack of education are the main causes of unplanned pregnancies.  Birth control (or lack thereof) does not appear to the major roadblock to eliminating unplanned pregnancies (at least that’s the perception). Though before we feel totally at ease with the state of birth control in the U.S., 68-81% of Americans still say that lack of access, understanding, or money to obtain and/or use birth control is at least somewhat of a factor in the rate of unplanned pregnancies.

So, what’s the public policy directive then – more money to schools, to sex education, to improving our moral standards?  What should your local politician do?

Share |

Data Snapshot

Only 14% of Americans say having a birth control pill available is bad for society.

For full data and methodology information, click here.

 

Where is Richard Simmons When You Need Him?

So I have some good news and some bad news…

With health care non-reform front and cent(rist) as it is, it seems like we could all stand to modify our habits along with our public policies. 

Let’s start with the glass is half-empty (of cigarette smoke)… Americans have seen the truth and embraced it.  We appear less likely to smoke cigarettes now than any other year since Harris Interactive began measuring our healthy behaviors, according to a recent Harris Poll.  Today, only 17% of Americans say they smoke cigarettes – the same as in 2008 – but less than any other year on Harris’ record since 1983.  Now, to be accurate, all the publicity about the harmful impact of nicotine has either been overlooked or disregarded by adults who chew tobacco and smoke cigars who still use in the same proportion as they did 5 years ago… perhaps a promotional hole in our anti-smoking campaign?  And still 17% of Americans (nearly 1 in 5) admit to smoking cigarettes… 

So let’s move on to the glass is half full (of sugary soda), it turns out that as a country, we are becoming more and more overweight (not to mention obese).

• In 1983, only (?) 58% of Americans ages 25+ were overweight with 15% who were obese.  Today, 78% are overweight and 34% are obese.  In other words, obesity has more than doubled (!) in the past 25 years. 
• In fact, almost every year, the figures for obesity have either plateaued or increased.  There have only been *3* years out of the past 25 in which the figures have fallen by more than one percentage point.  So, bring it on, Jamie Oliver...We need you!

How have your health habits changed in the past decade?  Are you (am I) one to talk?

In the Strictest Confidence

For 44 years, since 1966, The Harris Poll has measured Americans’ confidence in the leaders of our major institutions. Based on the responses, Harris calculates an overall Confidence Index. Over the past almost 5 decades, we have seen the Confidence Index rise and fall, but by and large, it has remained steady somewhere in the 50s. It reached its peak in 1973 at 69, and it bottomed out in 1997 at 42 (actually the 90s in general were somewhat of a down time with “confidence” hovering in the 40s for almost the entire decade).

And today, Harris Interactive’s Confidence Index stands at 53, one point lower than last year.

The beauty of an index is that it offers a birds-eye view of how respondents (in this case Americans) feel about a certain issue and it measures trends in attitudes and experiences over time.

But… an index doesn’t always reflect the underlying (and sometimes significant) changes in the public consciousness.  While our index (and others) often appear static, the attributes that make up the index may experience more dramatic fluctuations. 

And today’s Confidence Index is no exception.  While the top-line figure is 53, essentially the same as it has been for the past 7 years, some of the specific measures that make up today’s Index have changed considerably from last year and over the past decade.  For example, while we entered the decade in 2000 with a Confidence Index only slightly higher than it is today, our confidence in:

• ↑ The military has increased 11 points since 2000.
• ↑ The White House has increased 6 points since 2000.
• ↓ The medical field has dropped 10 points since 2000.
• ↓ Major companies have dropped 13 points since 2000.
• ↓ Wall Street has plummeted 22 points since 2000.

And while the Confidence Index is virtually the same as it was last year, our confidence in:

• ↑ The courts and the justice system has gone up 5 points from last year.
• ↓ Major educational institutions have gone down 5 points from last year.
• ↓ Television news has gone down 5 points from last year.
• ↓ The White House has gone down 9 points from last year.

Some changes are self-evident and we are made aware of them routinely in the news … the country’s financial collapse (and thus our crumbling faith in Wall Street); corporate deception (and thus our subsequent lack of trust in the leaders of major companies); the disrepair of the medical industry (and thus the growing need for reform); and the loss of momentum for policy change (and thus the decline in the White House approval ratings).  But some are surprising – why less confidence in colleges and universities today and why more confidence in the justice system from just last year? 

And why, do you believe, that the 90s – so closely aligned with prosperity – are also our lowest period of confidence?  

Data Snapshot

17% of U.S. adults admit to smoking cigarettes in 2010. ---The Harris Poll®, conducted by telephone between February 16th and 21st, 2010 among 1,010 adults 18+

Nutritional Labels Be Damned

According to a Harris Poll released last week, most Americans say they aren’t very knowledgeable about the food choices their family makes.  And we wonder why we have an obesity epidemic. 

When asked to choose why the majority of Americans are overweight or obese, more Americans attribute blame to our sedentary lifestyles and our lack of physical activity than to our individual food choices and our poor eating habits.  Now, I am sure the right answer is really both.

But while waiting for the first 40 of the 45 minutes that I sat on my doctor’s paper-thin-covered- piece of lumber-he-calls-a-bed, I had plenty of time to stare resentfully at his BMI chart (since all the signs artfully displayed said I couldn’t use my cell phone and it was the only non-pharma sponsored wall hanging in the room).  And since I go to the gym more than I often than I go to religious services (sorry Mom!), I do actually blame my diet of  "What?! sweet potato fries and ketchup aren’t vegetables??" for any extra pounds I still have from pregnancy. 

Clearly, I am hardly one to talk.  But I am not alone; only 27% of Americans say they feel extremely or very knowledgeable about the health and nutritional values of the food they and their families eat on a regular basis.  And, it appears even Mayor Bloomberg himself (that is, the mayor who forced fast-food chains to eliminate trans fats, post calorie counts and cut their use of salt) could use some paternalistic guidance now and then.

What do you think? How knowledgeable do you feel about the food you put into your body?