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ISSUE GUIDES: Economy

PUBLIC VIEW: RED FLAGS

The Red Flags section offers guidance on areas of public opinion research where findings may be misleading, unstable, or easily misinterpreted. Public Agenda uses several indicators to judge when survey results should be reported and used cautiously.

Red Flag Statements

Optimism and Doubt Trust in Business

A majority of Americans have viewed economic conditions as below par since April 2001 and recently close to 90 percent rate conditions as “only fair” or “poor”. Americans are also divided on whether conditions will be better in a year. But some level of public doubt and dissatisfaction with the economy is normal, even during prosperous times. In the late 1990s, when most Americans were optimistic about both the overall economy and their personal outlook, they were critical of some specific areas. Even with their doubts about the overall economy, more than half of Americans remain optimistic about their personal financial situation, though more than two-thirds say the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. While the overall majority of young adults believe they will be financially better off than their parents, whites were less likely than their minority peers to say so. Public Agenda examined the hopes and prospects of young adults in our Life after High School research study.

  • More than two-thirds of Americans say the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen
  • Large majorities say economic conditions are getting worse and are divided on whether conditions will be better in a year
  • Minority young adults are more likely than white young adults to say they will be financially better off than their parents
  • About half of Americans rate their own financial situation as strong and few expect their situation to get worse
  • Most Americans rate economic conditions as "only fair" or "poor"

In the years since the scandals at WorldCom and Enron broke, the public remains skeptical of the business world in some ways. Half say wrongdoing among corporate executives is a widespread problem and people are divided on how effective tougher penalties will be. Majorities say they are dissatisfied with the size and influence of major corporations, and few Americans give business executives high ratings for honesty and ethical standards. On the other hand, large majorities believe the success of American business has a lot to do with the strength of this country. Relatively few say they have a negative view of the accounting profession. In their experience, majorities of workers believe their employer is loyal to them. In Public Agenda's focus groups on this issue, we've found that average citizens seem to define business ethics differently than corporate executives. Citizens believe preserving jobs should be a major ethical priority for business and layoffs should be a last resort. In contrast, most business leaders told us that sometimes layoffs are an inevitable part of staying competitive. When executives talked about ethics, they were concerned about the damage recent scandals have done to business' reputation and the need to restore public trust. (Find out more in A Few Bad Apples?).

  • Six in 10 Americans say they are dissatisfied with the size and influence of major corporations and three-quarters say...
  • Half of Americans say wrongdoing among chief executives is a widespread problem and the measures taken in response to the ...
  • Large majorities say they agree with the view that the success of American business has a lot to do with the strength of this co
  • Relatively few Americans give business executives high marks for honesty and ethics, but did so even before the recent scandals
  • Relatively few Americans say they have a negative view of the accounting profession
  • Six in 10 Americans say the most important issue in the Enron collapse is that many employees lost their jobs and ...
  • Two-thirds of employed Americans believe their company has a strong sense of loyalty to them

Public Agenda uses several indicators to judge when survey results should be reported and used cautiously:

  • Results change when survey questions are reworded slightly.
  • Results change when implications or trade-offs of a policy are pointed out.
  • Results may be misleading if reported in isolation or out of context.
  • Other research suggests that people have incomplete or inaccurate knowledge in this area.