The Harris Poll® #30, March 19, 2008

While much of the focus may be on the United States, the recent financial crisis has impacted countries around the world, some worse than others. One sees varying degrees of impact when looking at on the crisis in the five largest European countries and the U.S. Italy appears to be the hardest hit with three in ten (29%) saying the financial crisis has had a major impact and an additional one-third (33%) saying it has had a moderate impact on their personal financial situation. Spain and France are the next hardest hit as one in six in France (15%) and Spain (14%) say the impact on their personal financial situation has been major and three in ten French (30%) and Spanish (31%) adults saying the impact has been moderate.

Looking at the U.S, one in six Americans (14%) say the crisis has had a major impact while 28 percent say the impact on their personal financial situation has been moderate. One in five Americans (21%) say there has been no impact. British and German adults are the ones who appear to be the least impacted as pluralities in both countries (47% and 44% respectively) say there has been no impact to their financial situation.

These are some of the results of a Financial Times/Harris Poll conducted online by Harris Interactive^® among a total of 6,478 adults aged 16 to 64 within France; Germany, Great Britain, Spain, the United States, and adults aged 18 to 64 in Italy, between February 27 and March 6, 2008.

Six months ago, the financial situation did not appear to be that bad – at least people were not that worried about it. A plurality of Italians (46%) and majorities in the other five countries (between 54% in Spain and 77% in Great Britain) say they were only somewhat or not at all worried six months ago about their personal financial situation. One in five in both Italy (21%) and Spain (21%) were extremely or very worried. In Italy, things may have been worse as an additional 33 percent of adults say they were fairly worried six months ago.

Looking six months into the future, however, is another story – at least in some countries. First, things in Germany and Great Britain seem to be the best as just 15 percent of Germans and 13 percent of British adults are extremely or very worried about their personal financial situation looking ahead to the next six months. And, one-quarter of Germans (26%) and one-third of British adults (33%) say they are not at all worried, the highest among the six countries. One–third of French (34%) and Italian (33%) adults are extremely or very worried about their personal financial situation looking ahead six months as are 28 percent of Spaniards and one-quarter (24%) of Americans.

One thing people do agree on is that their country’s government is not doing a very good job in handling the economy today. But, it’s not all terrible either. A plurality of Italians (44%) and just over one-quarter of Americans (28%) and French adults (27%) say their government is doing a terrible job. With the exception of the Italians, majorities in each country feel that their government is doing a fair job of handling the economy.

Disagreement exists on whether the government has the responsibility to intervene and save struggling financial institutions, such as banks. Just over half of adults in France (53%) and the U.S. (51%) agree that it is the responsibility of the government to intervene and save these failing or struggling institutions. Three in five adults in Italy (62%), Great Britain (60%) and Germany (60%) do not agree that it is the government’s responsibility to intervene. Spaniards are clearly divided as 50 percent think governments should intervene and 50 percent believe they should not.

Full data tables are available for the U.S. and Europe.

"Now we’d like to ask you some questions about the recent crisis in the financial markets around the world. What impact has the recent financial crisis had on your personal financial situation?"

Base: All EU adults in five countries and US adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

"Thinking back to approximately 6 months ago, how worried were you about your personal financial situation at that time?"

Base: All EU adults in five countries and US adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

"Looking ahead to the next 6 months, how worried are you about your personal financial situation?"

Base: All EU adults in five countries and US adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

"How do you think the [French, UK, German, Italian, Spanish, US] government is doing at handling the economy today?"

Base: All EU adults in five countries and US adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding
Note: * indicates less than 0.5%

"How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement? – It is the responsibility of the government to intervene and save struggling financial institutions, such as banks."

Base: All EU adults in five countries and U.S. adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

This FT/Harris Poll was conducted online by Harris Interactive among a total of 6,478 adults (aged 16-64) within France (1,122), Germany (1,125), Great Britain (1,109), Spain (1,054) and the United States (1,057) and adults (aged 18-64) in Italy (1,011) between 27 February and 6 March 2008. Figures for age, sex, education, region and Internet usage were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was 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, Harris Interactive 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 Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult populations of the respective countries. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

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