WHAT THE DATA SAY: The older you are, the shorter you shower; Gen Z tops 21 minutes cleaning up

By: Ray Day

CONTACT:

Ray Day
ray.day@stagwellglobal.com 

We wanted to share our latest consumer and business insights, based on research from Stagwell. Among the highlights of our weekly consumer sentiment tracking:

BORDER ISSUES VIEWED AS CRISIS

American sentiment on immigration is boiling over, according to latest Axios Vibes by The Harris Poll.

• 64% of Americans say the current U.S. southern border situation is a crisis, not a politically driven media narrative.
• 51% – including 42% of Democrats – would support mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
• The survey also found discrepancies between Americans’ perceptions of immigration and facts: 64% wrongly believe immigrants receive more in welfare and benefits than they pay in taxes, and 56% wrongly assume that illegal immigration is linked to spiking U.S. crime rates.
• Americans strongly support immigration as long as it is lawful, with 65% thinking the U.S. should make it easier for anyone seeking a better life to enter legally.
• 58% support expanding legal pathways for orderly immigration.

MOOD OF COUNTRY REMAINS FLAT

Americans’ views of how things are going remains little changed from last month, according to our most recent poll with the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University.

• 34% of Americans say the country is on the right track (equal with 34% a month ago), and 35% say the economy is on the right track (up slightly from 34% last month).
• 48% say their personal financial situation is becoming worse (compared with 47% a month ago), while 29% say it is improving (compared with 27% a month ago).
• Top issues for Americans remain immigration (35%) and price increases/inflation (35%), followed by the economy (with a 3-point improvement in perception from a month ago).
• Right now, Americans are more focused on domestic issues than foreign policy: 59% say this is a time in world affairs that enables the U.S. to focus primarily on domestic issues, rather than spend more on military and foreign affairs (Democrats: 58%, Republicans: 57% and Independents: 63%).
• 58% say the U.S. does not have the leadership necessary to handle world affairs.
• 56% support sending $26 billion in aid to Israel; 49% support sending $8 billion in aid to the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan; and 48% support sending $61 billion in aid to Ukraine.

RELIGION AS PART OF DEI RECEIVES MIXED REVIEWS

As employees’ needs and employers’ budgets have evolved, so have DEI teams. Based on our latest Harris Poll research with HR Brew, sharing religious beliefs at work is causing conflict among some coworkers.

• 67% of Americans think companies should have a formal DEI program.
• Yet only 49% of employees report that their company has a formal initiative, and 22% are not sure.
• 43% report having religious/faith DEI programming, yet employees are split over whether or not religion should be part of DEI: 54% said it would be appropriate to integrate it into DEI, while 41% said it shouldn’t – more than those who said the same about disability (26%), race (31%) and gender (33%).
• Workplace tensions might be driving the split: 41% say that conflicts related to faith/religion have caused tension at their workplace.
• Also, while 78% of Americans want companies to reflect the diversity of the U.S. population, 49% find the acronym “DEI” to be divisive, based on our previous research.

HOW YOU SHOWER SHOWS YOUR AGE

You might think your shower habits are random, yet new data from The Harris Poll reveals that showering is indicative of your age.

• The older you are, the shorter your shower time: Gen Z spends the longest time in the shower, at an average of 21.2 minutes, nearly twice as long as the 12.3 minutes for Boomers.
• 17% of Boomers shower five minutes or less.
• Gen X is mostly likely to take a daily shower (at 69%).
• Men are more likely to shower in the morning, while women are more likely to shower in the evening.
• The time of day that a person showers also varies by age group: 51% of Gen X say they typically are showered by 9 a.m., while 50% of Gen Z report showering after 8 p.m.

GEN Z LIKES USED HERMES AND CARTIER PRODUCTS

Surging demand for secondhand luxury goods is helping to boost the image of upscale brands Hermès and Cartier among Gen Z, according to our Harris Poll research with Ad Age.

• Hermès tops our latest Gen Z brand tracker, while Cartier comes in ninth. The tracker ranks brands that made significant progress in gaining attention from Gen Z in the first quarter of 2024.
• Other brands cracking the top five are Peppa Pig, Firehouse Subs, Coinbase and StubHub.

ICYMI

In case you missed it, check out some of the thought-leadership and happenings around Stagwell making news:

• Businesses Are Way More Optimistic Than Consumers, Poll Finds
• Stagwell Announces ‘Future of News’ Summit on May 15 Featuring Trailblazing Panelist Discussions and 50,000-Respondent Study Revealing the Importance of Investing in News
• Human Progress Report: Continuous learning is critical to achieving security and well-being.
• Navigating a new era of streaming
• Why Trees And Green Spaces Are Good For Our Health And Wellbeing