u.s. elections: new president, new era?...what do young europeans think?

Survey # 5 – New President, New Era?

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Survey # 5

U.S. elections: New President, New Era?

…what do Young Europeans think?

Main Results Report

September 2008



Aim of the study

Our 5th Survey, being the last of 2008 as well as the first of 2009, aimed at researching about how young Europeans were

living one the most popular global events of the last few months, that is the recent presidential elections in the United

States.

In fact, we were much interested in getting familiar with what young people in E.U. think of politics taking place in

another continent and, compared to European Politics, if they show any interest in American politics as well.

More over, one of our goals was to understand whether Barack Obama was generally favored by Young Europeans and

what kind of expectations were placed in him, especially in the current period of uncertainty.

The survey

Our survey was launched on November 16h and was closed on January 30th .

The questionnaire was launched on line, placed on our web portal (www.thinkyoung.eu) and spread via e-mail among our

community.

The sample

The sample of respondents is composed by over 100 respondents, equally distributed among men and women, mainly

coming from 15 over 27 EU countries reached by our e-mail sending (Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany,

Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey).

Age distribution is showed by the graph reported below, showing the usual concentration between 22 and 30 years old,

actually consolidating more and more during the subministration of our surveys, being individuals of these ages the main

target of our Think Tank.

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Main results of the Survey

1. Level of information and interest about the topic

As the graph below shows, the level of information and interest is sensibly high among the individuals of our sample:

almost 90% of respondents declare that their level of participation in the U.S. Elections event can be considered High or

Medium, meaning that – at least for 51% of the sample – they have actively looked for information from the media,

believing that the potential impact of U.S. politics on their own countries could be relevant.

This figure is mirrored by the kind of feeling reported after the Elections: almost all respondents have declared

themselves not to be Indifferent to the communication of results; it is then interesting to notice that over a half of the

sample were Very Happy about the results and believe that these could bring a change, not only in the United States.

Figure 1: age distribution of the sample; years



Figure 2: level of participation in U.S. Presidential Elections

Figure 3: feeling after the communication of U.S. Elections results



2. Obama and the United States of America

In the second part of the survey, we tried to investigate around Europeans thoughts of American political facts, in order

to understand if they have solid opinions and beliefs, even if they are actually living on the other side of the ocean…

Firstly, about the motivations reported as the most determinant for Obama’s victory, over 60% of respondents believe

that those can be found in Mr. President capability to communicate, having attracted new voters or having simply proved

to be himself a good communicator. The fact of having had not such strong competitors is defined as the main victory

motivation only by 10% of the sample.

Figure 4: main motivations of Barack Obama victory



Then, when asked about the biggest challenges to be faced by the newly elected President, it is very interesting to notice

how U.S. economical recover from the current crisis is considered to be the first one, followed by the U.S. bad

international image and, only in third position, by the retirement of troops from abroad battle fields.

These results are maybe explicit of the delicate situation lived by Young Europeans, for whom economical crisis is

becoming even more important than the global war to terrorism, and of the fact that the United States are believed to be

responsible for the potential dramatic consequences of the crisis itself.

3. Elections in United States and European Union politics

The last part of our survey was intended to map if any changes in youngs’ ideas about EU politics could have happened, as

a consequence of the U.S. elections event.

Figure 5: main challenges to be faced by President Obama



Figure 7: would you like Europeans to vote for a EU President?

As the graphs below show, more than 60% of respondents declar to see a stronger European Union after Obama election,

since the latter could be seen as an example of cultural and social integration which has become a sort of international

model.

A second effect, of a different kind but to be equally emphasized, is the opinion about a possible vote for a common EU

President: it is very interesting to notice how more than a half of respondents have declared to be ready to vote in these

kind of elections.

Figure 6: how do you see Europe after the U.S. Elections?



Conclusions

As a conclusion, we asked to imagine who would be the right President of a European Union of tomorrow, requesting to

choose among some of the most popular current or formal national leaders coming from European countries. It is

interesting to notice, as shown by the graph below, that the majority of the sample did not accept our proposals,

indicating locally known leaders or simply “not yet elected persons”- showing not a high level of trust in today politicians.

Among our proposals, the most voted was José Luis Zapatero, especially from younger respondents of the sample: being

him an innovator in Spanish politics, we could define the ideal EU President as an Innovator and Innovation as the most

requested attitude, especially among younger people.

About our last, open question, we asked to express a sort of suggestions to newly elected President Obama, as a way of

asking what the sample believed were the hottest issues to be cared during the next few years of government: main

topics introduced are environmental issues, global war to terrorism, human rights, equality of social rights, prevention

and solution of economical crisis, “stickiness” to the political program communicated during the campaign and, finally, a

request not to disappoint the U.S. and the world public, both reached by Obama’s words.

Figure 8: does the crisis emphasize the EU international weakness?



1. How would you evaluate your participation in the United States Elections High: I have looked for as many news as possible about it. Considering the possible impacts of the US vote on world balance I’ve

thought to be informed as about the elections in my own country

Medium: I got interested in the last days thanks to media campaign

Low: whatever comes in US election there are other news that affect me more

2. How did you feel when you have been informed about the results?

Very happy, I got behind Obama candidature. I believe it’s an historical moment and a positive sign of changeover, not only for United

States.

Positively: surprised even if I did not expect the United States could vote for him

Unhappy, I don’t think he has been the right choice

Indifferent, I don’t think the United States are important anymore, I don’t care about their elections.

3. In your opinion which is the main reason why Barack Obama won? He proved to be good communicator

His family-man attitude

He chose a perfect slogan for targeting his political campaign

He gathered the expectancies of blacks and Hispanics

He has been able to involve new voters who have never been interested in president election

His opponents (Hillary Clinton first and John McCain after) were not good enough

4. Which is the most difficult challenge the new president Obama will have to face? Recover US economy creating a new business model with lower debt load

Fight against terrorism

Retirement of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan

The survey



The international policy (bad image of the US in the far East, new cold war)

The increasing cost of oil and other raw materials (i.e. cereals)

Loss of economical leadership in favor of new competitors as China

Implementation of a welfare system) in the US (i.e. education, health, social security)

To win his inexperience in a leading position

5. How do you see Europe after this election? Stronger: the US shows that they have been wrong in the past; Europe is now a stronger Union with one currencies and different

cultures that is an international role model.

Weaker: the US electors gave a strong answer to the current crisis and the need for change, whereas Europe is answering slowly to

face the problem

6. After this election, would you like Europeans to vote for the European Union President?

Yes

No

I don’t care

7. If you were to choose a President for the European Union, who would he be?

José Barroso

Tony Blair

Nicolas Sarkosy

José Luis Zapatero

Angela Merkel

Gordon Brown

Other: please specify

8. If you could tell something to President Obama, what would you tell/ ask him? Open answer



For receiving more information about this Survey and about Think Young researches and activities, please, contact us at:

Think Young – the Think tank made in EUth

http://www.thinkyoung.eu

[email protected]

Contacts

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