Penny For Your Thoughts? Americans Oppose Abolishing the Penny

NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- With the multitude of Presidential contenders working hard to keep the economy top of mind, it makes sense to look at ways to save money on a national level. Take, for example, the penny. It's long been suggested in some circles that we abolish it and default to the nickel as our lowest denomination coin for a variety of reasons, ranging from the unused pile of them collecting in your car's cup holder to the fact that at last report, they cost nearly twice as much to make as they're worth.

But while opposition to abolishing the penny is softening (51%, down from 56% in 2008) and support for the idea is on the rise (29%, up from 24%), the "nay's" appear to have it for the time being.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,273 U.S. adults surveyed online between July 15 and 20, 2015.  Full results of this study, including data tables, can be found here.

While majorities oppose dropping the penny from circulation, some groups are more likely than others to support the idea:

• Men are roughly twice as likely as women to favor abolishing the penny (39% vs. 20%).
• Regionally, support for getting rid of the penny is highest in the East and the West (34% each, vs. 27% in the Midwest and 23%  in the South)
• Liberals (34%) and Moderates (30%) are more likely than Conservatives (23%) to favor the idea.
• Additionally, those with higher annual household incomes (peaking at 44% of those in households earning $100k+) are far more likely than those with lower incomes to favor the idea (with support lowest among those in households earning under $35k per year, at 19%). Those in $100k+ households are also at least twice as likely as any other income segment to express a preference for a dollar coin (22% vs. 11% or less for all other cohorts).

Dollar dollar… bills?

There have also been several attempts to replace the $1 bill with a coin, but eight in ten Americans (80%, up from 76%) prefer it in paper form.  As with the penny proposal, the idea of a dollar coin sits better with some groups than with others:

• Men are more than twice as likely as women to indicate they'd prefer a dollar in coin form (19% vs. 7%).
• Westerners (18%) are most likely to support the idea of a $1 coin (vs. 12% in the Midwest, 11% in the East and 10% in the South).
• Urbanites (17%) are more likely than their Suburban (12%) or Rural (11%) counterparts to prefer a coin.

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Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online, in English, within the United States between July 15 and 20, 2015 among 2,273 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, The Harris Poll 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 Poll 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 our 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.

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

The Harris Poll^® #56, September 22, 2015
By Larry Shannon-Missal, Managing Editor, The Harris Poll

About The Harris Poll® 
Begun in 1963, The Harris Poll is one of the longest running surveys measuring public opinion in the U.S. and is highly regarded throughout the world.  The nationally representative polls, conducted primarily online, measure the knowledge, opinions, behaviors and motivations of the general public.  New and trended polls on a wide variety of subjects including politics, the economy, healthcare, foreign affairs, science and technology, sports and entertainment, and lifestyles are published weekly.  For more information, or to see other recent polls, visit us at TheHarrisPoll.com.

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SOURCE The Harris Poll

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