2010 is a week old, so we thought it’s time to check in with our blog readers on their New Year’s resolutions.

In late December, we polled people on some common resolutions. 33% of our survey respondents resolved to lose weight, while 11% said they would either get a job or change jobs, 29% wanted to save more money, 35% planned to exercise more, and a comparatively paltry 17% pledged to be a better person.

Which of these resolutions, if any, would you adopt?  If you made resolutions, are you still keeping them?

Katy health, lifestyles lifestyle

Merry Christmas from the Zogby blog!

If your wish was for some Christmas-related polling data, have no fear – we are here to oblige you.

A few weeks ago, we surveyed people about their favorite Christmas songs. You can read our complete release on that here. We also asked about favorite Christmas movies, asking our survey respondents to pick their favorite from our list of about 20 new and classic holiday films.

The winner, selected as the favorite by 18% of our respondents, was It’s a Wonderful Life. Rounding out the top three were A Christmas Story, selected as a favorite by 11%, and Miracle on 34th Street, chosen by 10%.

What is your favorite Christmas movie and why?

Katy culture, lifestyles culture, entertainment

We recently included several winning Top Question Tuesday selections on an interactive poll. Stay tuned to this blog as we’ll be releasing the results over the next several weeks! And don’t forget to submit your own nominations for Top Question Tuesday using the box on the right of this blog.

One question, timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street earlier this year,  asked which muppet was the respondent’s favorite. Cookie Monster led the list with 16% naming him as their favorite, followed by 11% saying Elmo, 10% each saying Big Bird or Oscar, 9% saying Grover, 5% each saying the Count or Ernie, and 2% saying Bert. 7% of our sample said they were too unfamiliar with the show to choose, and another 7% said “another muppet” is their favorite.

With a few exceptions, most subgroup responses mirrored the overall demographics. Males were slightly more likely than average to prefer Cookie Monster (19% of males vs 16%  of the overall sample ), while females were slightly more likely than average to prefer Big Bird (14% of females vs 10% of the overall sample). Those 18-29 were more likely than average to select Grover (16% of youth vs 9% overall), while those over 65 were much more likely to answer “not sure” or that they were too unfamiliar with the show to choose.

If you watched Sesame Street as a child, or watch it now with your own children, do you have a favorite muppet? Did you pay attention to any of Sesame Street’s  40 year anniversary celebrations earlier this year? What do you think the future holds for television programming aimed at children?

Katy culture, lifestyles media, television, Top Question Tuesday

All the numbers on holiday shopping aren’t in yet, but at this point it looks like the season will be much like last year’s. That is certainly not good news, but I suspect it won’t turn out as badly as it could have, given a lengthy recession and an unemployment rate exceeding 10%.

We know that November sales reports showed a modest 1.3% increase, which was more than expected. A Zogby Interactive survey completed last week found half of U.S. adults saying they planned to spend less this holiday season. That number is very similar to those we found asking the same question in telephone polls in both 2007 and 2008. So we should expect 2009 final holiday sales totals to not be very different than those of the two previous and weak buying seasons.

Read the rest of John Zogby column at Forbes.com.

Paul John Zogby, lifestyles

Today’s Zogby blog post comes courtesy of Cheryl Korn, a Writer/Analyst with Zogby International, and an avid hockey fan since she was old enough to follow and understand the game. Thanks Cheryl!

Patrick Kane, a forward with the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL), made history by scoring the first NHL goal in Finland. This is most likely a moment Kane will carry with him for the rest of his life. But what will he remember about pleading guilty to a noncriminal charge of disorderly conduct after being accused of assaulting a cab driver over a fare dispute this past summer?

Kane could have faced up to 15 days in jail and a $250 fine, but the judge in Kane’s case issued him a conditional discharge. This meant he would avoid facing jail time as long as he does not run into problems with the law for a year. Kane was also ordered to make a statement of apology to the cab driver.

Luckily for Kane, everything seems to be neatly swept under the rug. The NHL has not chosen to punish him for his actions off the ice this past summer. However, how well does this lack of punishment sit with hockey fans and the general public?

According to a recent Zogby Interactive survey, 65% of adults nationwide agree that regardless of Kane’s guilty plea, he should face some sort of disciplinary action from the NHL. Respondents age 65 and older (70%) and parents of children under the age of 17 (69%) are among the most likely to agree. Eighteen percent of those surveyed do not agree and believe Kane should not face any disciplinary action from the NHL.

Electronic Arts Sports’ (EA Sports) NHL 10 was released on September 15. This release featured Kane’s image, and the software company has not said anything about replacing Kane’s image on the cover because of the off-ice incident this past summer. Clearly, this lack of action does not sit well with some. Our survey shows that 42% believe EA Sports should change the cover of the game and remove Kane’s image. Respondents ages 50-64 (48%) and 65 and older (47%) and parents of children under the age of 17 (44%) are among the most likely to agree that the cover should be changed. Three in ten (31%) do not agree that Kane’s image should be removed, with First Globals™ (18-29 year olds) (44%) among the most likely to say that Kane’s image should remain on the cover.

What is your opinion about this? How does this situation compare to the incident a few years ago where former Vancouver Canuck Todd Bertuzzi issued former Colorado Av Steve Moore a check into the boards? The play would end Moore’s hockey playing career. As you may recall, the referee during the game did not call a penalty as the check was deemed legal. However, Bertuzzi was later suspended by the NHL due to the severity of Moore’s injuries. Clearly, Kane could have seriously injured the cab driver during the incident, so why is the NHL continuing to look the other way? Did the NHL “miss the call” by not issuing Kane a suspension or some type of disciplinary action for his conduct off the ice this past summer?

ZogbyFeaturedContributor culture, lifestyles crime, entertainment, first globals, history, international, lifestyle, sports, summer, war, zogby

We recently included several winning Top Question Tuesday selections on an interactive poll. Stay tuned to this blog as we’ll be releasing the results over the next several weeks! And don’t forget to submit your own nominations for Top Question Tuesday using the box on the right of this blog.

One question asked whether respondents were more religious, less religious, or about as equally religious as their parents. Overall, 21% felt they were more religious than their parents, while 34% felt they were less religious, 41% said they were equally as religious, and 4% were not sure.

Groups that are more likely than average to say they were less religious than their parents include respondents aged 18-29 (41%), those who live in small cities (44%), and those who are single (42%) or divorced/separated (40%). Groups that are more likely than average to say they are more religious than their parents include those who live in rural areas (25%), Protestants (26%), and those with some college education but not a college degree (23%).

Do you believe you are more, less or equally as religious as your parents?

Katy lifestyles, religion education, elections, Generations, religion, Top Question Tuesday

It’s shaping up to be a good, if expensive, week for survey researchers (and others) who are also Beatles fans. This Wednesday, Harmonix Music Systems will release the greatly anticipated The Beatles: Rock Band , a video game which will allow users to jam along with the Beatles interactively on the game’s electronic instruments. That same day, digitally remastered versions of all Beatles studio albums will be released . Serious aficionados will no doubt snap up the box set featuring 14 of these remastered CDs along with brief documentaries detailing the making of each CD.

In a nine page article in the New York Times describing the making of The Beatles: Rock Band, author Daniel Radosh describes the extensive involvement of surviving Beatles Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney as well as Yoko Ono and Olivia and Dhani Harrison in imagining, creating, refining, and publicizing the game. On the decision to place the Beatles in the center of the interactive video game cultural phenomenon, McCartney comments that “I think it reflects where the Beatles are at.. we are halfway between reality and mythology.” McCartney is also a fan of the game’s interactive nature, noting that “you want people to get engaged… [now people can feel as if] they possess or own the song, that they’ve been in it.”

Meanwhile, some pollsters are hard at work confirming hypotheses that will come as little surprise to Beatles fans: more than forty years after their last group recording, the Beatles are judged to be the most liked musical group in America, and their fans are found in every generation. Pew reports that 49% of those surveyed claimed they liked the Beatles “a lot”, and 81% like the Beatles overall. This is the highest favorability percentage for any of the 20 musical groups or artists included in Pew’s survey. The biggest fans are those between 50 and 64, with 65% of this age group liking the Beatles “a lot”, but fans are found in all age groups: 45% of those between 16 and 25 also like the Beatles “a lot”.

Are you a Beatles fan? Do you think any musical group will ever have a cultural or musical impact equal to the Beatles? Do you plan to purchase or play any of the Beatles-related music or games released this week?

Katy culture, lifestyles, media Beatles, best band ever, culture, entertainment, music, polls, video, work

A recent article in Wall Street Journal argued that social networking sites such as Facebook have some undesirable effects on friendships. One of the arguments made was that the ease with which information can be shared encourages sharing of banality that was previously usually kept for oneself.
One of the targets in both the article and comments were posts and tweets about consuming food and drinks.

Insofar as this is a sin, Zogby Interactive data suggest that not that many of us are sinners. 85% percent of our respondents who use Twitter said they have never twittered about food or drinks. Females tend to find these topic a little more interesting, with 18% saying they have done so (compared to 13% males).

Do you think that sites such as Facebook encourage banality in relationships? Do you tweet about food and drinks?

Zeljka communication, culture, internet, lifestyles, media twitter, work, zogby

In a recent Zogby interactive survey, we asked the respondents how they stay in touch with their family and friends both near and far. Here are the results. 

When we asked, “which one method is your favorite for keeping in contact with family and friends who live in the same geographic area as you live?” the top five choices are:

• Landline conversation (25%)
• Cellphone/Smartphone conversations (24%)
• Email (23%)
• Cellphone/Smartphone texting (13%)
• Facebook (10%). 

When we asked, “which one method is your favorite for keeping in contact with friends and family who live outside the geographic area where you live?” the ranking above changed to:

• Email (39%)
• Facebook (24%)
• Cellphone/Smartphone conversations (13%)
• Landline conversation (13%)
• Cellphone/Smartphone texting (6%)

Facebook made the top-5 list in both cases. Groups that prefer to stay in touch with their family and friends through Facebook are the 18-to-29 year olds (53%), respondents who do not own a house (43%), those who have a child under 17 years old (41%), and those living in small cities. Groups that are least likely to use Facebook as their favorite method for keeping in touch with friends and family are respondents who live in rural areas (16%), those over 50 years old (7%), and respondents who are divorced, separated or widowed (11%).

How do you stay connected with your friends and family? Which of the methods above is your favorite? Do you use Facebook and texting a lot to keep your friends and family updated? How frequently do you use them?

Grace Uncategorized, communication, internet, lifestyles, technology zogby

A few weeks ago, we at Zogby surveyed consumers on the quality of customer service given by a number of major companies or brands. You can read a summary of the results of the ten best companies here  and the ten worst companies here. We also blogged about the fact that four of the companies on the ten worst list are in telecommunications and enjoyed reading your ideas of why this might be.

Another interesting pattern turns up on our list of the ten best companies. Four of these ten companies are grocery stores – Costco, ranked 9th, Whole Foods (7th), Publix (6th) and Trader Joe’s (2nd). Both Costco and Trader Joe’s are known for their low prices, while Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are known for their wide selection – including plenty of organic fare, particularly at Whole Foods. Meanwhile, grocery chain Publix gives all employees the opportunity to buy company stock after working a selected length of time. An MSN article on Publix quotes Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous as attributing their high ranking to being partially employee-owned, and Brous notes that because of this, “our associates have an investment in providing good customer service.”

Do you generally feel that you receive good customer service in your grocery store? Are prices and availability of organic food major factors in where you choose to shop for groceries, or are other factors, such as location or being locally owned, more important to you? If you shop at any of the stores we ranked, how would you rate their customer service?

Katy culture, lifestyles communication, consumption, lifestyle, work, zogby