Harris Alienation Index Remains Lower than It Was for Most of the Last 20 Years

NEW YORK, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- A new Harris Poll finds that the level of alienation among Americans remains, as it was in 2009, somewhat lower than it was for most of the years that George W. Bush was president, and all of the years when Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush were in the White House.

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Almost every year since 1966, the Harris Poll has measured how alienated Americans feel and then calculated the Harris Alienation Index based on the results.  The questions measure how much, or how little, people feel their interests are heard and addressed by people with power and influence.  This year the Harris Alienation Index stands at 52, compared to 53 last year and 58 in 2008 when George W. Bush was still president. These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 1,066 adults surveyed by telephone between July 13 and 18, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

The Index is based on replies to five questions, which show only modest changes since last year.

• 68% of all adults believe the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, compared to 66% last year;
• 50% believe that the people running the country don't really care what happens to you, compared to 53% in 2009;
• 53% believe that most people in power try to take advantage of people like you compared to 57% last year;
• 52% believe that what you think doesn't count very much anymore, compared to 56% last year;
• 37% believe that they are left out of things going on around them, compared to 35% last year.

In addition, 70% feel that the people in Washington are out of touch with the rest of the country, compared to 72% last year.  However, this question is not used in the calculation of the Alienation Index, because it was not asked before 1992.

Demographically, some people feel more alienated than others

Hispanics feel more alienated than African-Americans and Whites. (Alienation Index of 55 compared to 49 and 52). People with more education feel less alienated than people with less education.  The Index is 56 among people with only a high school education compared to 43 among those with a post graduate education and 44% among those with a college degree.

So what?

It is interesting to speculate on what drives these numbers.  Changes in the Index are not, primarily, driven by the economy and the level of unemployment.  The Index is lower (i.e. fewer people feel alienated) than it was when the economy was booming in the 1990s.

Nor, it seems, is it directly related to the political mood, measured by the number of people who feel the country is on the right track or who give good and bad marks to the President or Congress. However, Alienation is now much lower among African Americans than it was in the preceding years when a white president was in the White House.

Rather it seems that alienation reflects something more subtle—feelings about the people who are in power, rather than the policies or the consequences of their actions.

Methodology

This Harris Poll® was conducted by telephone within the United States between July 13 and 18, 2010 among 1,066 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region, number of adults in the household, number of phone lines in the household were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.

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.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.

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The Harris Poll® #96, August 10, 2010

By Humphrey Taylor, Chairman, The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

SOURCE Harris Interactive