Sean Garrett at The 463 reports on this delightful survey commissioned by his firm and conducted by Zogby International. It’s the first in a series of “Internet Attitudes” studies the two firms will conduct and it’s a big-picture eye-opener that nonetheless confirms what we have suspected all along.
Among the more interesting results of the poll, which was conducted among 1,200 U.S. adults:
—83% of the respondents think the average 12 year-old knows more about the Internet than their congressperson;
—People believe that Democrats have the edge over Republicans when it comes to grasping the Internet and its importance; 30% of the respondents say that Democrats have a better grasp of the Internet, while 20% say that Republicans do.
—Two-thirds (66%) of the respondents believe that in ten years, there will be no place on the planet where the Internet is not accessible.
—People are more likely to pick China as the source of the next big tech visionary. When asked “From which country do you think the next Bill Gates will come from?,” 27% of the respondents say China, followed by Japan (22%) and then the U.S. (21%).
One unrelated observation: The 463 and Zogby released not only the results of the survey, they also produced the survey instrument itself, along with the raw data cross-tabulated. When it comes to public opinion polls in the political arena, this level of detail is rarely produced, and usually for good reason.
The data from these kinds of surveys are often taken out of context, massaged and generally twisted to score the kinds of points that the sponsoring groups or companies want to make. It’s far easier to distort survey results when no one can inspect the survey instrument or raw data. I generally conclude that someone wants to mess with our minds when only hand-picked and limited data from public opinion polls are released.
Nice to see full disclosure — more companies, trade associations, political groups and so forth should follow suit.
Cynthia Brumfield at 8:57 AM|Comments(0)
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