http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20091105005051/en
NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
A new Harris Poll finds that the great majority of the public is satisfied with
their lives, and that most people believe that their personal situation will
improve over the next five years. The numbers who feel this way are lower today
than they were in the last few years, but most Americans are still upbeat and
optimistic in spite of the economic tough times and the increase in
unemployment. Furthermore, a majority of Echo Boomers (aged 18-30), and
pluralities of Gen X (aged 31-42) and Baby Boomers feel their present situation
today is better than it was five years ago. Only among Matures (aged 62+) is
there a plurality who feels that their situation has become worse.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll® of 1,019 adults surveyed by
telephone between October 13 and 18, 2009 by Harris Interactive®.
Some of the most interesting findings are:
* Fully 88% of all adults are satisfied with their lives, and 54% are very
satisfied. However, these numbers are lower than in any of the four other Harris
Polls that asked these questions since 2003.
* More people (40%) feel that their situation has improved over the last five
years than feel it has got worse (27%). However, among Matures (aged 62+), more
people feel their situation has become worse (30%) than better (20%). The 40%
who feel their situation has improved is lower than it was in any of the four
previous surveys. In 2005, a 56% majority felt this way.
* Notwithstanding the economic bad times, a 54% majority of adults believe their
personal situation will improve over the next five years. However, this is lower
than it was. In 2005, fully 65% believed their situation would improve.
* On this question about the future, there are very large differences between
generations. The older people are, the less likely they are to be optimistic.
Fully 82% of Echo Boomers (aged 18-30) and majorities of Gen X (64%) and Baby
Boomers (54%) believe their situation will improve. Only 21% of Matures believe
this.
* Republicans are more likely than Democrats to be very satisfied with their
lives (63% vs. 49%) but are less likely to believe that their personal situation
will improve in the next five years (52% vs. 63%).
* People with higher incomes are a little more satisfied with their lives, and
are much more likely to feel their personal situation has improved in the last
five years (52% among people with household incomes of $75,000 or more, compared
to 32% of people with incomes of less than $35,000). However, they are not
significantly more optimistic about the next five years than are people with
incomes below $50,000 or below $35,000.
So what?
Many foreign observers of the United States over the last 200 or more years have
remarked that Americans seem to be more optimistic than people living in "the
old world," from which most immigrants came.
This new poll shows that, whatever our current problems are, American optimism
is alive and well.
TABLE 1
OVERALL LIFE SATISFACTION
"On the whole, are you very satisfied, fairly satisfied, not very satisfied or
not at all satisfied with the life you lead?"
Base: All Adults
2003 2005 2007 2008 2009
% % % % %
SATISFIED (NET) 91 90 94 93 88
Very Satisfied 57 58 56 65 54
Somewhat Satisfied 34 32 38 28 33
NOT SATISFIED (NET) 8 8 6 7 11
Not Very Satisfied 6 6 5 4 7
Not at all Satisfied 2 2 2 2 3
Not sure/Don`t Know 1 1 * * 1
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding
* Less than 0.5%
TABLE 2
PRESENT LIFE SITUATION COMPARED TO FIVE YEARS AGO - TREND
"If you compare your present situation with five years ago, would you say it has
improved, stayed about the same or got worse?"
Base: All Adults
2003 2005 2007 2008 2009
% % % % %
Improved 49 56 54 42 40
Stayed about the same 29 26 28 29 32
Got worse 21 18 17 28 27
Not sure/ Don`t know 1 1 * 1 1
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding
* Less than 0.5%
TABLE 3
PRESENT LIFE SITUATION COMPARED TO FIVE YEARS AGO
"If you compare your present situation with five years ago, would you say it has
improved, stayed about the same or got worse?"
Base: All Adults
Total Region Generation
East Midwest South West Echo Boomers Gen X Baby Boomers Matures
(18-30) (31-42) (43-61) (62+)
% % % % % % % % %
Improved 40 36 44 37 46 64 45 35 20
Stayed about the same 32 34 30 35 28 19 33 29 48
Got worse 27 30 24 28 25 15 22 35 30
Not sure/ Don`t know 1 1 1 * 2 2 - 1 1
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding
* Less than 0.5% "-" No response
TABLE 4
EXPECTED PERSONAL SITUATION IN FIVE YEARS - TREND
"In the course of the next five years, do you expect your personal situation to
improve, to stay about the same or to get worse?"
Base: All Adults
2003 2005 2007 2008 2009
% % % % %
Improve 63 65 62 56 54
Stay about the same 26 22 30 30 27
Get worse 8 10 7 10 15
Not sure/ Don`t know 2 3 1 3 3
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding
TABLE 5
EXPECTED PERSONAL SITUATION IN FIVE YEARS
"In the course of the next five years, do you expect your personal situation to
improve, to stay about the same or to get worse?"
Base: All Adults
Total Generation
Echo Boomers Gen X Baby Boomers Matures
(18-30) (31-42) (43-61) (62+)
% % % % %
Improve 54 82 64 54 21
Stay about the same 27 14 21 27 48
Get worse 15 4 15 16 26
Not sure/ Don`t know 3 - 1 3 5
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding
"-" No response
TABLE 6
SELECTED ATTITUDES AND EXPECTATIONS - BY PARTY
Base: All adults
All Adults Party I.D.
Republican Democrat Independent
% % % %
Very satisfied with their lives 54 63 49 57
Personal situation has improved in last 5 years 40 44 36 42
Personal situation will improve in next five years 54 52 63 45
TABLE 7
SELECTED ATTITUDES - BY INCOME
Base: All adults
All Adults Income
Less than $35K $35K to $49.9K $50K to $74.9K $75K +
% % % % %
Very satisfied with their lives 54 78 53 53 57
Personal situation has improved in last 5 years 40 32 28 32 52
Personal situation will improve in next five years 54 55 59 49 57
The Harris Poll® #126, November 5, 2009
By Humphrey Taylor, Chairman, The Harris Poll
Methodology
This Harris Poll was conducted by telephone within the United States October 13
and 18, 2009 among 1,019 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex,
race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where
necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the
population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents`
propensity to be online.
All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are
subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to
quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated
with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options,
and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids
the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated
are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure,
unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical
because no published polls come close to this ideal.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to
participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to
reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on
those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of
theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council
on Public Polls.
J37077
Q805, 810, 815
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and
rich history in multimodal research, powered by our science and technology, we
assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients
globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of
independent market research firms. For more information, please visit
www.harrisinteractive.com
Harris Interactive, Inc.
Alyssa Hall, 212-539-9749
ahall@harrisinteractive.com
Copyright Business Wire 2009
