Gallup inside the mind of consumers

Posted on | May 30, 2006 | Comments Off

Happy Tuesday! Hope everybody enjoyed the long weekend.

This morning, our friends at Gallup entertain us with evidence of how people will often look at the same situation and see very different things.

They decided to take a look at why the split between people who say the economy is mostly good and those who say its mostly bad exists.

President Bush says it’s all our fault … we, the media, that is. He says we’re just not doing a good enough job of getting his message out about all the nifty economic data that keeps coming down the pike.

(For the record, to the best of my knowledge, it’s not our job — we, the media, that is — to help Mr. Bush with his marketing efforts. Sorry, sir.)

The split is pretty close to fifty-fifty, interestingly enough (52% say “mostly good” and 45% say “mostly bad”).

But here’s the really curious part. By a pretty large margin, the “mostly good” crowd says their opinion is mostly based on the job situation (47%), followed (distantly) by consumer spending and general economic improvement (12% and 11%, respectively).

Meanwhile, the “mostly bad” bunch say the problem is sky-high fuel costs (26%) and a bad job market (21%). Also nailed as culprits are inflation (14%), outsourcing (10%), and the simple fact that people are broke (9%).

High on everybody’s list is the jobs situation. People who say the economy is doing well cite the employment situation and people who say the economy is doing poorly also cite the employment situation.

Are you confused yet?

Here’s what Gallup says:

The same employment data at the national level are available to all Americans. Differences in the way the employment situation is viewed may be due to several factors. It may simply be a case of differential or selective exposure to information. Some Americans may pay attention to reports that the national jobless rate is falling, while others pay attention to reports of corporate downsizing, layoffs, and outsourcing. It is also possible that some Americans may be looking at employment from a personal or local perspective, reflecting the differences in employment from family to family and region to region. Individuals working for Ford or General Motors may have different views of the employment situation, for example, than do those working for Google or in the currently booming oil and gas industry.

Okay, that makes sense.

For microbusiness owners, the real issue here is to figure out which group dominates your ideal customer, because this will be a good coincident indicator for you. If your buyers belong in the “mostly good” crowd, then you’re probably doing a pretty brisk business right now. On the other hand, if your buyers are members of the “mostly bad” club, you may be having some trouble getting them to part with their cash. You might want to think about a few batten-down-the-hatches moves, because you might be in for a bumpy ride.


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Category: The Economy


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