Intellicast S5E10 – EPC: Part Deux
March 11, 2022Intellicast S5E11 – Shopper Insights and Trends with Chris Whitaker of Explorer Research
March 25, 2022
The war between Russia and Ukraine is having a tangible impact on all aspects of life. Many of us have seen or read heartbreaking news stories depicting the conflict and may even have family members or friends involved. We’ve also seen changes in a multitude of industries, from consumer goods to market research. In light of recent events, we asked US citizens’ perceptions of the conflict in our latest round of research-on-research. Here is what we found:
Overall
We ran two waves of the study asking respondents who they thought were the “good guys” and who they thought were the “bad guys” in the conflict and included options not just for Ukraine and Russia but also NATO, China, and the US. Additionally, the first wave was fielded January 21-27 (n=3,066), well before the start of the war on February 24th. The second wave occurred March 4-13 (n=5,398), well into the war and during constant news coverage.
Overall, the United States and Ukraine were seen as the good guys with about ¾ of respondents agreeing to this. Public perceptions of Ukraine lowered slightly after the start of the war as a few less people considered them to be the good guys. Meanwhile very few respondents consider Russia to be the good guys and over ¾ consider them to be the bad guys. NATO has a much more polarizing perception although it is rather consistent. Interestingly, about 2/3 of respondents agreed that China is also part of the “bad guys.”
Political Affiliation
When looking at perceptions of the conflict by political affiliation, Republicans and Democrats only have slightly different perceptions. We can see that Democrats were 6% more likely than Republicans to think of the United States as a good guy, 8% more likely to think of NATO as a good guy, and 9% more likely to think of China as a good guy. Republicans were 6% more likely than Democrats to think the United States is a bad guy, 9% more likely to think that NATO is a bad guy, and 10% more likely to think China is a bad guy.
Age
We analyzed the same question by age. Those age 45 and older are 9% more likely to believe the United States is a good guy, 14% more likely to believe Ukraine is a good guy, and 16% more likely to believe that NATO is a good guy than younger respondents are. Those age 18-44 are 8% more likely to think China is a good guy and 8% more likely to think “None of These” is a good guy. On the other hand, those age 45 and older are 12% more likely to believe Russia is a bad guy and 6% more likely to believe China is a bad guy, while those age 18-44 are 6% more likely to believe Ukraine is a bad guy, 7% more likely to believe NATO is a bad guy, and 9% more likely to believe “None of These” is a bad guy.
Ethnicity
When looking at perceptions of the conflict by ethnicity, Caucasian/White respondents were 8% more likely to think of the United States as a good guy than African American/Black respondents, 12% more likely to think of Ukraine as a good guy, and 18% more likely to think of NATO as a good guy. African American/Black respondents were 2% more likely to think of Russia as a good guy than Caucasian/White respondents, 11% more likely to think of China as a good guy, and 9% more likely to think of “None of These” as a good guy. Caucasian/White respondents were 12% more likely to think of Russia as a bad guy than African American/Black respondents and 19% more likely to think of China as a bad guy. African American/Black respondents were 10% more likely to think of Ukraine as a bad guy, 7% more likely to think of NATO as a bad guy, and 10% more likely to think of “None of These” as a bad guy than Caucasian/White respondents.
Gender
Finally, we analyzed this question by gender. While perceptions of the conflict were not extremely varied by gender, males were 11% more likely than females to believe that NATO is a good guy and 8% more likely to believe that China is a bad guy than females.
While measuring the perceptions of a major global situation, our thoughts are with anyone involved in or affected by the conflict in Ukraine.
To learn more about our research-on-research and public perception of current events, check out the fourth edition of our annual report, The Sample Landscape: 2022 Edition.
