Not everyone understands political labels
Journalists, political activists and many others routinely use political labels to describe politicians and policies as conservative or liberal, right-wing or left-wing. A Harris Poll measured what a cross-section of U.S. adults understand by these and other labels.
Most people, it appears, understand these labels in pretty much the same way political pundits do. Large majorities believe that conservatives favor moral values, cutting taxes, and oppose same-sex marriage, gay rights, and abortion rights. Majorities believe liberals favor abortion rights, gay rights, same-sex marriages, and affirmative action. But substantial numbers of people don’t know where conservatives and liberals stand on those and other issues. And some people seem to completely misunderstand these labels. These are the results of a Harris Poll of 2,209 U.S. adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., between January 11 and 16, 2005.
While most people gave the expected answers, substantial minorities think that conservatives oppose cutting taxes (19 percent) or are not sure (11 percent) whether they favor or oppose cutting taxes. In other words, 30 percent of all adults do not give the expected response that conservatives favor cutting taxes. Similarly: 50 percent believe that conservatives support gun control or are not sure; 46 percent think that conservatives support affirmative action or are not sure; 23 percent think that conservatives support abortion rights or are not sure; 19 percent think that conservatives support gay rights or are not sure; 15 percent believe conservatives support same-sex marriage or are not sure.
While large majorities believe liberals favor abortion rights, gay rights, and same-sex marriage, substantial minorities give more surprising responses. Fully 39 percent believe liberals favor cutting taxes, and 17 percent are not sure. Thirty-seven percent believe that liberals either oppose gun control (24 percent) or are not sure (13 percent).
Significant but smaller numbers do not believe or are not sure if liberals support gun control (37 percent), affirmative action (26 percent), same-sex marriage (22 percent), gay rights (17 percent), or abortion rights (16 percent).
As one would expect, many people think that right-wingers support and oppose policies in ways which are similar to the positions of conservatives. But the label right-wing is less clear to many people than conservative. More people don’t know what the phrase means, with between 20 and 27 percent saying they are not sure whether a right-winger would support or oppose each of the seven policy positions.
The majorities who give the expected answers (e.g., the 59 percent who say that right-wingers support cutting taxes) are about 10 points lower than those who give the expected answers when describing conservatives.
Likewise, the label left-winger is broadly perceived to be similar to liberal except that more people are not sure what it means.
Unsurprisingly, perceptions of moderates and independents fall between those of conservatives and liberals and between right- and left-wingers. But there are some interesting, possibly surprising findings. Moderates for example are seen by many people to resemble conservatives in supporting moral values and tax cuts but to resemble liberals in supporting abortion rights, gun control and gay rights. Smaller numbers, but still pluralities, believe that independents favor tax cuts, abortion rights, affirmative action, gay rights, gun control and same sex marriage. Overall, therefore, people are more likely to see moderates and independents as resembling liberals than resembling conservatives. For more information visit www.harrisinteractive.com.
Internet users earning $150k grow 20 percent year-over-year
New York-based Nielsen//Net-Ratings reports that Internet users with household incomes of more than $150,000 jumped 20 percent year-over-year to 10.3 million in January 2005, leading all income groups. This group not only spends the most amount of time online (76 hours per month) as compared to the other income segment, but it consumes more Web pages (2,126 pages) than any other group.
“The rise in the number of high-income Web surfers, combined with their propensity to spend the most amount of time surfing and consuming Web pages as compared to everyone else, represents a solid opportunity for marketers,” says Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings.
Nielsen//NetRatings found that men and women living in high-income households shared similarities in their preferences for travel sites. In terms of differences, men visited more financial sites while women were drawn more to entertainment sites.
The top Web sites capturing the largest percentage of men in this income group were Fidelity Investments, Sabre Travel Network, CBS MarketWatch, United Airlines and American Airlines. The top Web sites drawing the highest percentage of high-income women were AOL Travel, Moviefone, AOL Living, Expedia and AOL Entertainment.
“Our research indicates that savvy advertisers trying to reach both men and women efficiently in this group should target online travel sites in their marketing campaigns, while focusing on financial sites to reach men and entertainment destinations to reach women,” says Dougherty. For more information visit http://nielsennetratings.com.
I want my satellite radio
Columbus, Ohio-based BIGresearch reports that 18-34-year-olds are satellite radio providers’ No. 1 age group for current subscribers and also for those planning on buying in the next six months.
For those 35+, the majority say they don’t plan on buying/subscribing to satellite radio at this time. These age groups also tend to be less likely to be current subscribers, according to the findings from the company’s March Consumer Intentions and Actions survey of over 7,000 consumers. The satellite radio questions were developed in collaboration with MarketStar.
Education about the advantages or useful outcomes of subscribing to satellite radio appear to be necessary in order to motivate the 35+ crowd to subscribe as 22.7 percent of the 35-44-year-olds said they didn’t know enough about the service, 24.3 percent of the 45-54-year-olds, 2.8 percent of the 55-64-year-olds and 42 percent of the 65+ said the same. “Lack of understanding of the benefits and technological anxiety are the key hurdles that the satellite radio vendors need to overcome at this stage, especially for sub-segments including older consumers,” says Ryan Brock, vice president of strategic services with MarketStar Corporation. “In the retail environment, this underscores the need to target these consumer segments where they are most likely to shop, with hands-on, face-to-face educational tools to overcome these specific objections.”
Of consumers 18+, 4.2 percent said they currently subscribe to one of the satellite radio services and 2.5 percent said they are planning to within the next six months. An additional 16.1 percent said they plan to subscribe someday.
Of those people who said they plan to subscribe, 28.7 percent said they would subscribe to Sirius, 16.7 percent said XM and 54.6 percent were undecided about which service they would choose. XM was the No. 1 pick for 18-24-year-olds and Sirius was No. 1 for all other age groups. For more information visit www.bigresearch.com.
Trendsetters read, they don’t watch TV
Print media, in general, are more effective than television for reaching influential Americans - the 10 percent of the population who drive what the other 90 percent think, do and buy. By incorporating its Influentials research battery into Mediamark Research Inc.’s Survey of the American Consumer, NOP World found that 41 percent of influential Americans are among the nation’s most avid newspaper readers, and a third of influential Americans are counted among the country’s heaviest magazine readers. In contrast, just 14 percent of influential Americans are heavy TV viewers.
Radio is somewhat more effective than TV for reaching influential Americans, with 20 percent of Influentials among the most frequent radio listeners. The print media, however, provide a far more efficient way to reach influential Americans than either major broadcast vehicle.
“We know that these consumers are the principal drivers of word-of-mouth conversations across a diverse range of categories, including cars, technology, food, beverages, media, home decorating and financial investments,” says Ed Keller, CEO of NOP World Consumer and the author with Jon Berry of The Influentials, a book published by Simon & Shuster in 2002.
Demographically, Influentials are similar to the average citizen. They are found in almost all regions, and in both rural and urban areas. They are about twice as likely as the general population, however, to be college graduates, as well as to hold professional or management jobs.
“Although Influentials are similar to the general public demographically, they stand apart in their level of participation in their communities,” says Keller. “They are more likely, for instance, to attend public meetings or to give speeches or talks. In addition, in the U.S., they are twice as likely to recommend a product - one of the reasons they are such key targets for companies looking to build the word-of-mouth momentum critical for market success.” For more information visit www.nopworld.com.
Houston and L.A. among top markets for potential new auto buyers
An analysis from Scarborough Research, New York, finds that Houston is the top U.S. local market for potential new auto buyers. (Potential new auto buyers = consumers who indicate in the Scarborough study that they or a member of their household intends to purchase a new vehicle during the next 12 months.) Sixteen percent of consumers in Houston reported that they or another member of their household plan to purchase a new vehicle during the next 12 months. Los Angeles, San Antonio, Miami and New Orleans round out the top local markets for potential new auto buyers, with 15 percent of consumers in these markets planning to buy a new vehicle during the next year.
On average, potential new auto buyers plan to spend more than $24,800 on new car purchases for their household during the next year. They are 15 percent more likely than all consumers to have four or more people in their household, and they are 37 percent more likely to have traveled 2,000 or more miles during the past month.
Grand Rapids, Mich. (4 percent), Greenville, S.C. (6 percent) and Columbus, Ohio (7 percent) rank last among Scarborough’s 75 markets for potential new auto buyers. The full list of markets is included in a press release that can be found at www.scarborough.com.
Age and gender are major influences on charitable donations
The Customer Focus 2005: Nonprofit study by Baltimore, Md.-based marketing firm Vertis shows that 25 percent of men with a household income of $75,000+ contributed to a political organization in 2005, compared to 14 percent in 2001. In addition, 48 percent of women with a household income of $75,000+ donated money to a food/hunger charity in 2005, compared to 40 percent in 2001. “Men and women have demonstrated different donation patterns that also translate across various generations,” says Thérèse Mulvey, vice president, marketing research, at Vertis. “This data illustrates the importance for organizations to understand donors and their behavior in order to develop a campaign that speaks directly to contributors and effectively secures their support.”
The study also found that adults are more likely to make a donation to an organization following catastrophic events or natural disasters. In 2002, following the events of 9/11, 49 percent of adults with some college education donated money to a safety/disaster relief organization, compared to 36 percent in 2005.
Fifty-four percent of Generation Y (1977-1994) adults contributed between $1-$99 to charities and nonprofit organizations in 2005, compared to 48 percent in 2001. Similarly, Generation X (1965-1976) adults increased their $1-$99 contributions from 36 percent in 2001 to 43 percent in 2005. Of the older Baby Boomers (1946-1955) surveyed, 23 percent donated $100-$249 to a local charity or organization in 2005, compared to 18 percent in 2001. Thirteen percent of what Vertis calls Young/Olds (1930-1945) donated between $250-$499 in 2005, compared to 9 percent in 2001.
Which charities are getting the donations? Twenty percent of male contributors donated to political organizations, compared to 10 percent in 2001 Of the Baby Boomers surveyed, 41 percent said they contributed to homeless/shelter organizations, compared to 32 percent in 2001. Of the female contributors surveyed, 43 percent reported they contributed to food/hunger organizations, compared to 36 percent in 2001. Thirty-six percent of female contributors donated to safety/disaster organizations, compared to 30 percent in 2001.
When deciding which organizations to support, 58 percent of contributors who donated $500+ and 52 percent of contributors who donated under $250 stated that it is very important for them to know how the organization spends donated funds. Twenty-three percent of contributors who donated $500+ stated it is very important to receive a summary of the progress made by the organization during the past year. Thirty-five percent of total contributors surveyed said it is very important to receive information on why donations are needed prior to making a contribution. Thirty-eight percent of contributors surveyed said it is very important for them to obtain information on how the charity is helping a local area when deciding to which organization they will contribute.
Charitable solicitations elicit various responses. Forty-six percent of Generation Y adults responded to charitable solicitations from special events in 2005, compared to 38 percent in 2003. Similarly, 53 percent of Generation X adults also responded to charitable solicitations from special events in 2005, which increased from 47 percent in 2003. Over half (56 percent) of Young/Olds and 50 percent of Baby Boomers responded to direct mail solicitations from charities. Forty-nine percent of Generation X adults responded to charitable solicitations from friends or relatives, compared to 44 percent of Baby Boomers. For more information visit www.vertisinc.com.