North Carolinians Deny Weight Problems

The first step toward recovery of problem is admitting that you in fact have a problem. That may explain why North Carolinians, children and adults, have one of the highest rates of obesity in the nation. A recent Brogan Survey has unveiled that adult obesity is nearly eight times higher than asbestos survey North Carolina residents are ready to admit.

600 North Carolinians were asked asked to classify their weight — only 3 percent said they consider themselves obese. However, state data reveals that obesity actually impacts nearly 26.6% of NC adults.

More distressing, the results show that adults are also in denial about their children’s weight, with only 10% of parents classifying their children as overweight when the actual number is above 19%. “It’s sad enough when adults make choices that can harm their long-term health as significantly as obesity can, but we have children with problems, and the parents are just not capable of seeing it,” said Brogan partner Jim Tobin, in the most recent survey press release.

State Medical Director Dr. Leah Devlin suggested one way to battle the epidemic is to invest more resources into helping people learn how to eat smart and move more. Another way is for parents to take ownership of the issue, and make a commitment to help themselves and their children asbestos surveys grow healthier. What do you think?
Posted by Survey Team at 3:12 PM 0 comments
Economy Makes Michiganders Antsy
Almost half (45%) of the 600 Michigan residents who responded to the most recent Brogan survey said they would be willing to move to another state if given the chance. If that number looks high, further digging shows that a whopping 70% of the state’s 18-24 year olds and 62% of Detroit residents would hit the trail too, if they could.

Why the urge to pack? One reason seems to be related to a growing distrust of Michigan’s economy. In fact, an overwhelming majority (83%) of survey respondents believed Michigan’s economy to be worse off than the nation’s, and even more (86%) survey respondents felt that Michigan is on the wrong track in terms of repairing it.

These results are alarming and should raise eyebrows about Michigan’s future. As Marcie Brogan put it, “[These results raise] serious concerns about losing many of our best and brightest. A loss of their energy and talent could haunt Michigan for a generation were it to happen.”

What do you think is the reason for this dissatisfaction? Do you think it is correlated to a growing distrust in the economy, or do you think it is an outcome of a highly mobile and itinerant demographic?
Posted by Survey Team at 3:05 PM 1 comments
Friday, August 31, 2007
Citizens View on NC Leaders Slightly Different than MI

In recent surveys conducted both in North Carolina and Michigan by Brogan & Partners, it was found that southerners and mid-westerners seem to think alike when it comes to their state’s leaders. When asked to rank how well civic group leaders, business leaders, education leaders, and elected leaders are serving their states, the North Carolina public gave out mediocre but passing grades, while Michigan citizens were slightly less satisfied. Despite the difference among the individual grades, however, these states both agree that civic group leaders are doing the best while they are least pleased with elected officials.

To read the North Carolina press release on this issue, visit Brogan’s website.

Although there is a direct correlation between the level of grades given in both North Carolina and Michigan, respondents gave differing opinions when asked which one group they think is the most important in helping their state’s economy grow. In the mid-west, the public found elected officials to be the most important, while North Carolinians chose education leaders.

As Jim Tobin said in the press release, “[The overall survey numbers] suggest that most people aren’t wildly unhappy with elected leaders, but they seem to be asking for more from them.”

When considering this, it makes sense that Michigan citizens believe them to be the most important in helping their economy grow. However, when examining North Carolina’s results, it seems a bit odd that their respondents graded elected officials the lowest, yet found business leaders the most creative and education leaders the most important.

So, what exactly does North Carolina want from their elected officials? They believe they are serving the state poorly, but they do not find them to be all that creative or important in helping their economy grow.

What do you think? How can these results be explained?
Posted by Survey Team at 1:12 PM 0 comments
Labels: civic group leaders, consumer opinion survey, education leaders, elected leaders, market research, North Carolina
Friday, August 24, 2007
North Carolina to Leaders: Take Drought Seriously
Survey results from the Brogan Survey released today show that 85% of North Carolinians think the drought in our state is serious or extremely serious. (Click on the chart below to enlarge it.)

You can read the full press release here.

71.8% said more needs to be done, while only 1.3% said that less needs to be done. 20.3% felt that enough was being done to address drought conditions.

75% indicate they are personally cutting back, versus 23.5% who are not.

The likelihood that a North Carolinian considers the drought serious increases as you move West. This is most evident when you compare our regional breakdown with the map of current drought conditions shown here.

In our survey, here are the percentage of people in each region who classified the drought as “extremely serious”:

Western: 52.0%
Charlotte: 56.7%
Piedmont: 48.7%
Southern: 38.5%
Triangle: 46.0%
Coastal: 31.7%

Here in Raleigh, starting next Tuesday, we can only water our lawn once a week. That restriction was reported in the paper on 8/23, the same day we were finishing up our calls, which started Monday, 8/20. Most were completed prior to that news being widely known.

Have you cut back? Is Raleigh doing enough? Is Charlotte? How about in the mountains?

Let us know what you think.
Posted by Survey Team at 10:59 AM 0 comments
Labels: consumer opinion survey, drought, North Carolina, survey
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Michiganders Agree: Purchase at the Store
Michiganders agree with North Carolinians. 30.7% of them said that when spending over $200 for something, they almost always purchase products from a store. A close 30.3% will compare store prices and Internet prices to see which has the better deal. 29.5% of Michiganders said they will do product research on the Internet, but generally make purchases from the store.

This data shows that Michiganders are pretty evenly split on how they approach making big purchases, not completely unlike North Carolinians.

Different than North Carolinian respondents, however, young Michiganders did not have such a dramatically low response rate to answering that they do internet research and purchase at the store. 31% of the 18-24 year olds answered this way, as compared to 6.4% of their North Carolinian counterparts.

Is there a reason for the similarities and differences? Do they have any bigger implications? What do you think?
Posted by Survey Team at 11:17 AM 0 comments
Labels: Michigan, North Carolina, survey
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Sticking With The Store
When making a purchase of over $200, most North Carolinians almost always purchase products at the store. 27.5% of them will compare store prices and internet prices to see which has the better deal, and 18.8% will do product research on the Internet, but generally purchase products from a store.

47.6% of respondents in North Carolina answered “I almost always purchase products from a store” when asked “when you are thinking of making a major purchase of more than $200, which of the following statements best describes you?” and given five choices.

Notably, only 6.4% of 18-24 year olds said they do internet research and purchase at the store. 20.4-23.8% people in age groups that ranged from 25 to 64 year olds picked the answer that indicated this.

A purchase of the new iPhone may warrant a different answer since it is in such high demand, or does it? If you knew it was being sold on ebay for cheaper, would you buy it online instead of at an apple store? How about with your other $200+ purchases, like furniture, etc? How do you go about purchasing those things?
Posted by Survey Team at 9:26 AM 0 comments
Labels: North Carolina, survey
Monday, July 2, 2007
Michiganders Say No to Purchasing Cars at Target or Meijers
These days everybody talks about Target excursions like they’re the highlight of the week. Friends swap information about how much they spent on their lamps, kitchen supplies and new bathing suits and enjoy bragging about the deal they clinched. However, Target may not be the best place to shop for all purchases.

According to the Brogan Survey, 53.7% of Michiganders would NOT be willing to purchase an automobile from Target or Meijers.

What’s even more interesting, though, is the distinct difference in responses provided by 25-34 year olds as compared to Michiganders in other age groups. 25-34 year olds was the only age group whose majority answered “yes” when asked, “If Target or Meijers sold automobiles produced especially for them by GM, Chrysler or Ford for a fixed price, generally speaking would you be willing to purchase an automobile from these stores?” In fact, 54.5% of them said yes and only 36.4% said no. All other age groups had between a 48.3% and 67% “no” response rate.

It seems that the 25-34 year olds are confident enough in their experiences to know what they’re doing, to not need a dealer, and to be hip and trendy by shopping at Target or Meijers. The other extreme is the people in the 65 and older crowd who were significantly more likely to answer “no” than any other group. 67% of them would not consider purchasing an automobile from the retail stores.

How about you? Would you purchase your next car from Target or Meijers? Why or why not?
Posted by Survey Team at 8:51 AM 0 comments
Labels: Chrysler, Michigan, survey
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Drugs or Obesity? Different Age Groups Disagree About Biggest Health Threats
America has huge health concerns. That’s nothing new. From bigger proportions of fast food, to drug abuse, to binge drinking, to eating disorders, we know we are in bad shape. Not all of us agree, however, on what the greatest threat to public health in the state of North Carolina is.

You may be interested in findings from the Brogan Survey that reveal which of four choices–obesity, smoking, alcohol or drugs– people find are the greatest threat to health. Overall, 38% felt drug abuse is the greatest threat, followed by 30.8% who felt obesity is more of a concern. What may be the most interesting though, is how people in various age groups answered differently.

People ages 18-24 were the most likely to say obesity is the greatest threat to health– 40.4% of them– and least likely to say drugs are the biggest problem, 29.8%. People 65 and older answered in just the opposite way, being least likely of any other group (23.9%) to answer obesity and most likely to answer drugs (46.9%) when asked what the greatest health concern is.

Does that seem odd to anyone else? Aren’t fingers typically pointed at teenagers and young adults for drug abuse? Aren’t older people more likely to be less active and gain weight with age?

Our findings can suggest a variety of things. Do you think the older population overestimates drug abuse in the state or country? Is this because of the media’s portrayal of young people? Are younger people more attuned to the obesity problem? Do they learn about it in school or base the level of health threat on people they know, indicating more overweight friends than drug addicts?