Dramatic Decline In Alienation.

A new issue of The Harris Poll shows a remarkable drop, for the second year in a row, in the strong sense of alienation that many people, particularly people with less education or low incomes, feel toward the rich and powerful. The Harris InteractiveSM Alienation Index, based on the replies to five questions asked at the end of each year, usually in December, has fallen to 47, the lowest level of alienation measured by Harris Interactive in any year since 1972. Fewer people are alienated now, by our definition, than at any time in the last 29 years.

Harris Interactive has been tracking alienation for 35 years, since 1966. Until the mid-1990s, the Alienation Index had been rising more or less steadily. It averaged 34 in the 1960s, 52 in the 1970s, 57 in the 1980s, 64 in the first half of the 1990s and peaked at 67 in 1995. This year’s measure of 47 is not only the lowest in almost thirty years; it is also below the averages for the 1990s (63), the 1980s (57) and the 1970s (52).

These are the results of a poll of 1,011 adults surveyed by telephone between December 14–19, 2001.

Not all of the items in the Index have fallen by the same amount. The number of people who believe that “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” at 69%, is unchanged from last year and down only five points since 1999. Those who believe they are “left out of things going on around” them, at 33%, are down six points from last year. Those who believe “most people with power try to take advantage of people like yourself,” at 48%, are down eleven points since 2000. The biggest drop for the five questions included in the Index is the seventeen-point decline in the number of people who feel “the people running the country don’t really care what happens to you,” down from 53% to 36% since a year ago.

One other question, which is not included in the Index in part because we only began asking it in 1992, shows the biggest decline of all. This year only 51% feel that “the people in Washington are out of touch with the rest of the country,” down fully 22 points from the 73% last year, and down from a high of 83% in both 1992 and 1994.

It is very likely that the two biggest improvements, in the way people feel about “people with power” and “people in Washington,” are related to events since September 11th and the very high ratings now enjoyed by the president and other members of his cabinet.

Some people are more alienated than others are

As in previous years, some segments of the population feel much more alienated than others do, and the decline in alienation has been greater in some segments than in others. The biggest decline in alienation over the last two years has come among Republicans (down 24 points from 59% to 35%), people with household incomes of over $75,000 (down 21 points over the last two years), people with incomes of $25,000 (down 19 points) and people with incomes of $50,000 – $75,000 (down 17 points). There are also stark differences between the different racial and ethnic groups. The Alienation Index for whites stands at 43, down 17 points since 1999 while the Alienation Index for African-Americans is a much higher 66, down only six points since 1999. The Alienation Index for Hispanics is 54.

More than just a reaction to events since September 11th

The big improvement in these numbers, and the decline in alienation which it reports, is surely somewhat related to the way people feel about events and leaders in this country since September 11th. However, it should be noted that the decline in Alienation began in 1995 and that this year’s trend is merely a continuation of the accelerating trend we reported a year ago.

For more information at http://www.harrisinteractive.com