FOR RELEASE JULY 21, 2021

BY Shannon Schumacher and J.J. Moncus

FOR MEDIA OR OTHER INQUIRIES:

Shannon Schumacher, Research Associate

Stefan Cornibert, Communications Manager

202.419.4372

www.pewresearch.org

RECOMMENDED CITATION
Pew Research Center, July, 2021, “Economic Attitudes
Improve in Many Nations Even as Pandemic Endures”
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About Pew Research Center

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes
and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take policy positions. The Center conducts
public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social
science research. It studies U.S. politics and policy; journalism and media; internet, science and
technology; religion and public life; Hispanic trends; global attitudes and trends; and U.S. social
and demographic trends. All of the Center’s reports are available at www.pewresearch.org. Pew
Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder.

© Pew Research Center 2021

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How we did this

This analysis focuses on views of the economy and the financial futures of the next generation in 17
advanced economies around the world. For non-U.S. data, the report draws on nationally
representative Pew Research Center surveys of 16,254 adults from March 12 to May 26, 2021, in 16
publics. All surveys were conducted over the phone with adults in Canada, Belgium, France,
Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, Australia, Japan, New Zealand,
Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

In the United States, we surveyed 2,596 U.S. adults from Feb. 1 to 7, 2021. Everyone who took part
in the U.S. survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey
panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way
nearly all adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S.
adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories.

This study was conducted in countries where nationally representative telephone surveys are
feasible. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, face-to-face interviewing is not currently possible in
many parts of the world.

To account for the fact that some publics refer to the coronavirus differently, in South Korea, the
survey asked about the “Corona19 outbreak.” In Japan, the survey asked about the “novel
coronavirus outbreak.” In Greece, the survey asked about the “coronavirus pandemic.” In
Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Taiwan, the survey asked about the “COVID-19 outbreak.” All
other surveys used the term the “coronavirus outbreak.”

Here are the questions used for the report, along with responses. See our methodology database
for more information about the survey methods outside the U.S. For respondents in the U.S., read
more about the ATP’s methodology.

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As the global economy shows signs of rebounding, positive assessments of the economic situation
have risen in several major advanced economies since last year. Positive views of the economy
have sharply increased in countries like Australia and the United Kingdom. Yet, many in Spain,
Italy, Japan, France, Greece, South Korea and the United States continue to see their overall
economic situation as bleak.

Positive assessments of the economy have risen in many countries over past year
% who say the current economic situation is good

Note: Only statistically significant changes are shown.

Source: Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey. Q1.
“Economic Attitudes Improve in Many Nations Even as Pandemic Endures”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER

Despite an uptick in some places, many say that children will be worse off financially than their
parents, according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted this spring in 16 publics and in
the U.S. this past February.

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Across the 17 publics, a median of 64% say that

Most think children will be financially
when children grow up, they will be worse off
worse off than their parents’ generation
financially, while about a third (32%) say that
% who say that when children today in (survey public)
children will be better off than their parents’ grow up, they will be __ financially than their parents
generation. Only in Singapore and Sweden do Worse off Better off
half or more hold this optimistic view. U.S. 68% 32%
Canada 68 27
In the U.S., fully 68% think children will be
worse off than their parents. The most Sweden 43 50
Germany 50 40
pessimistic publics surveyed are France and
Netherlands 54 40
Japan, where 77% say children will be worse
UK 64 32
off.
Greece 66 31
Belgium 69 27
The survey also finds that people who say the Italy 72 25
coronavirus crisis has been mishandled by their Spain 71 24
government and those who say the economy is France 77 16
failing to recover in ways that show the MEDIAN 66 31
weaknesses of their economy are more likely to
say that the current economic situation is bad Singapore 35 61
and that children will be worse off financially Australia 60 35
than their parents. South Korea 60 34
New Zealand 62 34
Taiwan 62 27
These are among the findings of a new Pew
Japan 77 16
Research Center survey, conducted from Feb. 1
MEDIAN 61 34
to May 26, 2021, among 18,850 adults in 17
advanced economies. OVERALL
MEDIAN 64 32
MEDIAN

Accompanying this report is an interactive Note: Those who did not answer or who volunteered other
responses not shown.
analysis of the economic status of households Source: Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey. Q2.
“Economic Attitudes Improve in Many Nations Even as Pandemic
around the world: “Are you in the global middle Endures”
class? Find out with our income calculator.” PEW RESEARCH CENTER

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Overall views on whether the national economic

situation is good or not vary greatly across the
Views of the economy vary widely
% who say the current economic situation is …
17 publics surveyed. A median of 52% say that
the current economic situation is bad, while a Bad Good
Canada 51% 49%
similar share (47%) say it is good.
U.S. 71 29

Majorities assess the economy positively in

Sweden 14 86
northern European countries such as Sweden
Netherlands 30 69
(86%), the Netherlands (69%) and Germany
(60%) as well as in Singapore (69%) and Germany 40 60

Taiwan (56%). About three-quarters of those in Belgium 52 47

Australia and New Zealand, where COVID-19 UK 55 44

cases have remained relatively low, say the Greece 72 28

economy is good. France 72 26

Spain 87 13
But eight-in-ten or more in Spain, Italy and Italy 87 12
Japan say the economic situation is bad in their MEDIAN 55 44
country, as do seven-in-ten or more Greeks,
French, South Koreans and Americans. Australia 26 74
New Zealand 25 73
In Belgium, the UK and Canada, views on the Singapore 31 69
national economy are nearly evenly split, with Taiwan 43 56
slightly higher percentages saying that the South Korea 72 28
economy is bad. Japan 80 18
MEDIAN 37 63
Among many publics, views of the national
economy are more positive this year than last OVERALL
MEDIAN 52 47
MEDIAN
year. Positive assessments of the economy have
Note: Those who did not answer are not shown.
risen the most in Australia, where 74% now say Source: Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey. Q1.
the economic situation is good, compared with “Economic Attitudes Improve in Many Nations Even as Pandemic
Endures”
only 36% in 2020. Positive views also rose in PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Sweden and the Netherlands, but even in 2020,
majorities in these two countries still said the
economy was good.

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Views of economy up in most countries since 2020

% who say the current economic situation is good

Highest rating Lowest rating

’20-’21
’02 ’07 ’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 ’19 ’20 ’21 change
% % % % % % % % % % % % % % % %
Australia - - 69 - - - - 67 - 55 57 60 66 66 36 74 ▲38
UK 65 69 30 11 20 15 15 15 43 52 47 51 46 50 21 44 ▲23
Sweden - 84 - - - - - - - - 76 84 81 78 68 86 ▲18
Belgium - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 32 47 ▲15
South Korea 20 8 7 5 18 - - 20 33 16 - 15 31 30 16 28 ▲12
Canada 70 80 - 43 - - - 67 - 57 48 59 63 72 38 49 ▲11
Germany 27 63 53 28 44 67 73 75 85 75 75 86 78 79 51 60 ▲9
Netherlands - - - - - - - - - - 62 87 85 82 61 69 ▲8
France 45 30 19 14 13 17 19 9 12 14 12 21 43 37 18 26 ▲8
Japan 6 28 13 10 12 10 7 27 35 37 30 41 44 37 13 18 ▲5
Italy 36 25 - 22 - - 6 3 3 12 33 15 15 23 11 12 ▲1
U.S. 46 50 20 17 24 18 31 33 40 40 44 58 65 60 30 29 ▼1
Spain - 65 35 13 13 10 6 4 8 18 13 28 30 42 15 13 ▼2
Greece - - - - - - 2 1 2 - 2 2 4 15 - 28 --
Note: Statistically significant changes shown in bold. Prior to 2020, U.S. surveys were conducted by phone and Italy surveys were conducted
both face-to-face and by phone. Prior to 2021, Greece surveys were conducted face-to-face.
Source: Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey. Q1.
“Economic Attitudes Improve in Many Nations Even as Pandemic Endures”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER

Despite the global economic downturn the coronavirus pandemic has wrought, views of the
national economy are as positive as they have been since surveying began in Sweden in 2007 and
Australia in 2008 – two countries that initially took very different approaches in dealing with the
coronavirus outbreak.

While overall attitudes have grown more positive over the past year, the shares who say the
economy is good have not recovered from their pre-pandemic highs in many countries. For
instance, positive assessments of the economy in Canada rose 11 percentage points over the past
year, from 38% to 49%. But in 2019, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, 72% had said the economy
was good.

In most publics surveyed, women are more likely than men to say the economic situation is bad.
But, in most of the 17 publics surveyed, there are no significant differences in economic outlook
when it comes to age or education.

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In most publics surveyed, those who support

Views of economy related to views of
the governing party or ruling coalition are more
how country has handled COVID-19
likely to say the economy is good compared
% who say the current economic situation is good,
with those who do not support the governing among those who say (survey public) has done a ___
party. While the U.S. portion of this survey was handling the coronavirus outbreak
conducted immediately following the
inauguration of President Joe Biden, a more
recent U.S. survey has found a similar
relationship between partisanship and views of
the economy among Americans as well.

In most of the publics surveyed, views on the

economy are related to respondent assessments
of their government’s handling of the
coronavirus outbreak. Those who think the
outbreak has been dealt with well are more
likely to say the economy is good. This is
particularly the case in Germany and Canada,
where those who say the outbreak has been
handled well in their country are 38 percentage
points more likely to say the economy is good
compared with those who say the outbreak was
handled poorly.

Especially when it comes to economic recovery Note: All differences shown are statistically significant.
Source: Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey. Q1.
in the wake of the pandemic, the survey finds “Economic Attitudes Improve in Many Nations Even as Pandemic
that views vary widely, with a majority in the Endures”

U.S., Japan and much of Europe critiquing their PEW RESEARCH CENTER
economic system’s durability. And skepticism of
the state of recovery has colored views of the current economic situation. In all publics surveyed,
those who say their national economy is recovering from the effects of the coronavirus in ways that
show the strength of their economic system are far more likely to say the economy is currently
good than those who point to their economy’s weaknesses.

And in 11 of the publics surveyed, those who say the coronavirus pandemic has changed their life
not too much or not at all are more likely to rate the economy positively than those who say their
life has changed a lot or somewhat.

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The coronavirus pandemic has been predicted to have wide-sweeping effects on the future of
children around the world, particularly when it comes to education and economic outcomes. When
respondents in 17 publics were asked how they think children will fare when they grow up, the
prevailing view is that children will be financially worse off than their parents. More than two-
thirds say this in France, Japan, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the U.S. and Canada.

A median of roughly a third (32%) say their children will grow up to be better off than their
parents where they live, with respondents in Singapore (61%) and Sweden (50%) standing out as
particularly optimistic.

Majorities in many countries pessimistic about children’s future

% who say that when children today in (survey public) grow up, they will be worse off financially than their parents
’19-’21
2013 2014 2015 2017 2018 2019 2021 change
% % % % % % %
Italy 73 67 66 65 61 61 72 ▲11
U.S. 62 65 60 58 57 60 68 ▲8
Germany 64 56 58 52 52 42 50 ▲8
South Korea 37 43 52 55 53 54 60 ▲6
Greece 67 65 - 72 69 61 66 ▲5
Canada 64 - 64 69 67 66 68 ▲2
Spain 65 62 61 69 72 72 71 ▼1
France 90 86 85 71 80 79 77 ▼2
Japan 76 79 72 72 76 79 77 ▼2
Netherlands - - - 54 54 59 54 ▼5
Australia 53 - 64 69 64 65 60 ▼5
Sweden - - - 46 50 52 43 ▼9
UK 74 72 68 68 70 74 64 ▼10
Note: Statistically significant changes shown in bold. Prior to 2020, U.S. surveys were conducted by phone and Italy surveys were conducted
both face-to-face and by phone. Prior to 2021, Greece surveys were conducted face-to-face.
Source: Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey. Q2.
“Economic Attitudes Improve in Many Nations Even as Pandemic Endures”

PEW RESEARCH CENTER

In some places, pessimism has markedly increased since before the COVID-19 outbreak, while in
others, it has tempered. Respondents in Italy, the U.S., Germany, South Korea and Greece are now
more pessimistic than they were in spring 2019, with Americans and South Koreans more
pessimistic now than in any other year when the question was asked. However, respondents in the
UK, Sweden, Australia and the Netherlands are more positive on their kids’ prospects now than in

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2019. In fact, pessimism for their children’s future in Sweden and the UK is at its lowest point
since the Center began asking this question in each country.

In the U.S., respondents of all political leanings are broadly pessimistic about the future of
children, with views among conservative Republicans changing dramatically over the past year. In
March 2020, 36% of conservative Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said children
in the U.S. would be worse off than their parents. About three-quarters (76%) say so now, a 40-
point increase.

Americans across ideological groups are pessimistic for children’s future

% in U.S. who say that when children today in their country grow up, they will be …

Conserv Rep Mod/Lib Rep Cons/Mod Dem Liberal Dem

Better off
financially 63
than their 47 42
29 34 29
parents 23 24

Worse off
36
financially 52
than their 66 58
76 70 76 70
parents

'20 '21 '20 '21 '20 '21 '20 '21

Note: Those who did not answer or who volunteered other responses not shown. Republicans and Democrats include independents who lean
to each party.
Source: Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey. Q2.
“Economic Attitudes Improve in Many Nations Even as Pandemic Endures”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER

When it comes to expectations for children’s futures among the publics surveyed, there are few
consistent differences by age, education, income or ideology. In a handful of locales, women are
more pessimistic than men, with the largest such difference in Belgium (75% of women vs. 61% of
men say their country’s children will be worse off).

Those who say the current state of their economy is generally bad are far more likely to believe
their children will be worse off in the future. In all publics surveyed, there are double-digit
differences in pessimism between those who say their economy is good and those who say it is bad.
In Taiwan, the difference is 42 points – 85% of those who think their economy is bad also think

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their children will be worse off, while 43% of

Those who are critical of their country’s
those in Taiwan with positive views of their
COVID-19 response are more likely to
economy say their children will be worse off. say kids will be worse off in the future
% who say their children will be worse off, among
The survey found that respondents tended to those who say (survey public) has done a ___ handling
give high praise to the coronavirus response the coronavirus outbreak
where they live, especially in the Asia-Pacific.
But praise for the COVID-19 response is not
uniform, and those who say the response has
been bad are far more pessimistic about
children’s futures there. There are large
differences in both Greece and South Korea,
where majorities approve of their local
pandemic response, as well as in Japan and
Spain, where majorities say their country has
done a bad job dealing with the outbreak.

In a handful of publics surveyed, those who say

their own life changed due to the pandemic
(either a great deal or a fair amount) are more
likely to say their children will be worse off. In
Taiwan, roughly seven-in-ten of those whose
lives were affected in this way are pessimistic,
while just half of those whose lives did not
change say the same. There are similar divides
in the UK, South Korea, Canada and Australia. Note: All differences shown are statistically significant.
Source: Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey. Q2.
“Economic Attitudes Improve in Many Nations Even as Pandemic
Dissatisfaction with their economy’s recovery Endures”

from the pandemic has also fed into PEW RESEARCH CENTER

respondents’ pessimism for the future. In

nearly all publics surveyed, those who say their
economy is failing to recover from the pandemic in ways that show weaknesses of their system are
far more likely to say their children will be worse off than their parents. There are differences of 30
points or more on this issue in Greece, Canada and South Korea when compared with those who
say the recovery has been a demonstration of economic strength.

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Acknowledgments
This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals.

Shannon Schumacher, Research Associate

J.J. Moncus, Research Assistant

James Bell, Vice President, Global Strategy

Alexandra Castillo, Research Methodologist
Aidan Connaughton, Research Assistant
Stefan S. Cornibert, Communications Manager
Claudia Deane, Vice President, Research
Kat Devlin, Research Associate
Moira Fagan, Research Analyst
Janell Fetterolf, Senior Researcher
Shannon Greenwood, Digital Producer
Sneha Gubbala, Research Assistant
Christine Huang, Research Analyst
Michael Keegan, Senior Information Graphics Designer
David Kent, Senior Copy Editor
Gar Meng Leong, Communications Associate
Clark Letterman, Senior Survey Manager
Gracie Martinez, Senior Administrative Coordinator
Mara Mordecai, Research Analyst
Patrick Moynihan, Associate Director, International Research Methods
Julia O’Hanlon, Communications Associate
Jacob Poushter, Associate Director, Global Attitudes Research
Laura Silver, Senior Researcher
Richard Wike, Director, Global Attitudes Research

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Appendix: Political categorization

For this report, we grouped people into two political categories: those who support the governing
political party (or parties) and those who do not. These categories were coded based on the party
or parties in power at the time the survey was fielded, and on respondents’ answers to a question
asking them which political party, if any, they identified with in their survey public. 1

In publics where multiple political parties govern in coalition (as in many European countries),
survey respondents who indicated support for any parties in the coalition were grouped together.
In Germany, for example, where the center-right CDU/CSU governed with the center-left SPD at
the time of the survey, supporters of all three parties were grouped together. In publics where
different political parties occupy the executive and legislative branches of government, the party
holding the executive branch was considered the governing party.

Survey respondents who did not indicate support for any political party, or who refused to identify
with one, were considered to be not supporting the government in power.

Below is a table that outlines the governing political parties in each survey public.

1Governing parties were not updated to account for elections that occurred after the survey was fielded and resulted in a new party (or parties)
serving in government. Language used to measure party identification varied public by public.

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Appendix: Political categorization

Public Governing political party(ies)
Australia Liberal-National Party/Country Liberal Party/Liberal, National
Belgium Ecologists (Ecolo), Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V), Green (Groen), Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats
(Open VLD), Reformist Movement (MR), Socialist Party (PS), Vooruit (Socialist Party Different)
Canada Liberal Party
France En Marche
Germany Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), Social Democratic Party (SPD)
Greece New Democracy (ND)
Italy Democratic Party (PD), Five Star Movement (M5S), Forza Italia (FI), Free and Equal (LEU), Lega
Japan Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Komeito (NKP)
Christian Union*, Democrats 66 (D66), People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), The Christian
Netherlands
Democratic Appeal
New Zealand Labour Party, Green Party
Singapore People's Action Party (PAP)
Spain Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), United Left (IU), We can / Podemos
Sweden Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP), Green Party
Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
UK Conservative Party
U.S. Democratic Party

* Christian Union (ChristenUnie) left the governing coalition in the Netherlands on April 3, 2021. It is not considered part of the governing coalition
after this date.
Note: South Korea was excluded from this analysis because party favorability is not asked. Only parties represented in the federal government are
shown.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER

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Methodology

Results for the survey are based on telephone interviews conducted under the direction of Gallup
and Langer Research Associates. The results are based on national samples, unless otherwise
noted. More details about our international survey methodology and country-specific sample
designs are available here. Results for the U.S. survey are based on data from the American Trends
Panel.

Overview
The American Trends Panel (ATP), created by Pew Research Center, is a nationally representative
panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. Panelists participate via self-administered web surveys.
Panelists who do not have internet access at home are provided with a tablet and wireless internet
connection. Interviews are conducted in both English and Spanish. The panel is being managed by
Ipsos.

Data in this report is drawn from the panel wave conducted Feb. 1 to Feb. 7, 2021. A total of 2,596
panelists responded out of 2,943 who were sampled, for a response rate of 88%. This does not
include one panelist who was removed from the data due to extremely high rates of refusal or
straightlining. The cumulative response rate accounting for nonresponse to the recruitment
surveys and attrition is 4%. The break-off rate among panelists who logged on to the survey and
completed at least one item is 2%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 2,596
respondents is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

Panel recruitment
The ATP was created in 2014, with the first cohort of panelists invited to join the panel at the end
of a large, national, landline and cellphone random-digit-dial survey that was conducted in both
English and Spanish. Two additional recruitments were conducted using the same method in 2015
and 2017, respectively. Across these three surveys, a total of 19,718 adults were invited to join the
ATP, of whom 9,942 (50%) agreed to participate.

In August 2018, the ATP switched from telephone to address-based recruitment. Invitations were
sent to a random, address-based sample of households selected from the U.S. Postal Service’s
Delivery Sequence File. Two additional recruitments were conducted using the same method in

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2019 and 2020, respectively.

American Trends Panel recruitment surveys
Across these three address-
Active
based recruitments, a total of panelists
Recruitment dates Mode Invited Joined remaining
17,161 adults were invited to Landline/
join the ATP, of whom 15,134 Jan. 23 to March 16, 2014 cell RDD 9,809 5,338 2,184
Landline/
(88%) agreed to join the panel Aug. 27 to Oct. 4, 2015 cell RDD 6,004 2,976 1,243
and completed an initial Landline/
April 25 to June 4, 2017 cell RDD 3,905 1,628 621
profile survey. In each
Aug. 8 to Oct. 31, 2018 ABS/web 9,396 8,778 5,903
household, the adult with the Aug. 19 to Nov. 30, 2019 ABS/web 5,900 4,720 2,330
next birthday was asked to go June 1 to July 19, 2020 ABS/web 1,865 1,636 1,272
online to complete a survey, at Total 36,879 25,076 13,553
the end of which they were Note: Approximately once per year, panelists who have not participated in multiple
consecutive waves or who did not complete an annual profiling survey are removed from the
invited to join the panel. Of panel. Panelists also become inactive if they ask to be removed from the panel.
the 25,076 individuals who PEW RESEARCH CENTER

have ever joined the ATP,

13,553 remained active
panelists and continued to receive survey invitations at the time this survey was conducted.

The U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File has been estimated to cover as much as 98% of
the population, although some studies suggest that the coverage could be in the low 90% range. 2
The American Trends Panel never uses breakout routers or chains that direct respondents to
additional surveys.

Sample design
The overall target population for this survey was non-institutionalized persons ages 18 and older,
living in the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii.

This study featured a stratified random sample from the ATP. The sample was allocated according
to the following strata, in order: tablet households, U.S.-born Hispanics, foreign-born Hispanics,
high school education or less, foreign-born Asians, not registered to vote, people ages 18 to 34,
uses internet weekly or less, non-Hispanic Black adults, nonvolunteers and all other categories not
already falling into any of the above.

Questionnaire development and testing

The questionnaire was developed by Pew Research Center in consultation with Ipsos. The web
program was rigorously tested on both PC and mobile devices by the Ipsos project management

2 AAPOR Task Force on Address-based Sampling. 2016. “AAPOR Report: Address-based Sampling.”

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team and Pew Research Center researchers. The Ipsos project management team also populated
test data which was analyzed in SPSS to ensure the logic and randomizations were working as
intended before launching the survey.

Incentives
All respondents were offered a post-paid incentive for their participation. Respondents could
choose to receive the post-paid incentive in the form of a check or a gift code to Amazon.com or
could choose to decline the incentive. Incentive amounts ranged from $5 to $20 depending on
whether the respondent belongs to a part of the population that is harder or easier to reach.
Differential incentive amounts were designed to increase panel survey participation among groups
that traditionally have low survey response propensities.

Data collection protocol

The data collection field period for this survey was Feb. 1 to Feb. 7, 2021. Postcard notifications
were mailed to all ATP panelists with a known residential address on Feb. 1, 2021.

On Feb. 1 and Feb. 2, invitations were sent out in two separate launches: Soft Launch and Full
Launch. Sixty panelists were included in the soft launch, which began with an initial invitation
sent on Feb. 1, 2021. The ATP panelists chosen for the initial soft launch were known responders
who had completed previous ATP surveys within one day of receiving their invitation. All
remaining English- and Spanish-speaking panelists were included in the full launch and were sent
an invitation on Feb. 2, 2021.

All panelists with an email address received an email invitation and up to two email reminders if
they did not respond to the survey. All ATP panelists that consented to SMS messages received an
SMS invitation and up to two SMS reminders.

Invitation and reminder dates

Soft Launch Full Launch
Initial invitation Feb. 1, 2021 Feb. 2, 2021
First reminder Feb. 4, 2021 Feb 4, 2021
Final reminder Feb. 6, 2021 Feb. 6, 2021

Data quality checks

To ensure high-quality data, the Center’s researchers performed data quality checks to identify any
respondents showing clear patterns of satisficing. This includes checking for very high rates of

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leaving questions blank, as well as always selecting the first or last answer presented. As a result of
this checking, one ATP respondent was removed from the survey dataset prior to weighting and
analysis.

Weighting
The ATP data was weighted in
Weighting dimensions
a multistep process that
accounts for multiple stages of Variable Benchmark source
Age x Gender 2019 American Community Survey
sampling and nonresponse Education x Gender
that occur at different points Education x Age
Race/Ethnicity x Education
in the survey process. First, Born inside vs. outside the U.S. among
each panelist begins with a Hispanics and Asian Americans
Years lived in the U.S.
base weight that reflects their
probability of selection for Census region x Metro/Non-metro 2019 CPS March Supplement
their initial recruitment survey Volunteerism 2017 CPS Volunteering & Civic Life
Supplement
(and the probability of being Voter registration 2016 CPS Voting and Registration
invited to participate in the Supplement
panel in cases where only a Party affiliation 2020 National Public Opinion
Frequency of internet use Reference Survey
subsample of respondents Religious affiliation
were invited). The base Note: Estimates from the ACS are based on non-institutionalized adults. The 2016 CPS was
used for voter registration targets for this wave in order to obtain voter registration numbers
weights for panelists recruited from a presidential election year. Voter registration is calculated using procedures from Hur,
Achen (2013) and rescaled to include the total U.S. adult population. The 2020 National
in different years are scaled to
Public Opinion Reference Survey featured 1,862 online completions and 2,247 mail survey
be proportionate to the completions.

effective sample size for all PEW RESEARCH CENTER

active panelists in their cohort.

To correct for nonresponse to
the initial recruitment surveys and gradual panel attrition, the base weights for all active panelists
are calibrated to align with the population benchmarks identified in the accompanying table to
create a full-panel weight.

For ATP waves in which only a subsample of panelists are invited to participate, a wave-specific
base weight is created by adjusting the full-panel weights for subsampled panelists to account for
any differential probabilities of selection for the particular panel wave. For waves in which all
active panelists are invited to participate, the wave-specific base weight is identical to the full-
panel weight.

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In the final weighting step, the wave-specific base weights for panelists who completed the survey
are again calibrated to match the population benchmarks specified above. These weights are
trimmed (typically at about the 1st and 99th percentiles) to reduce the loss in precision stemming
from variance in the weights. Sampling errors and test of statistical significance take into account
the effect of weighting.

The following table shows the unweighted sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that
would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey.

Unweighted
Group sample size Weighted % Plus or minus …
Total sample 2,596 2.7 percentage points
Half sample At least 1,287 3.7 percentage points

Rep/Lean Rep 1,106 44 3.9 percentage points

Half sample At least 549 5.6 percentage points

Dem/Lean Dem 1,410 49 3.7 percentage points

Half sample At least 688 5.2 percentage points

Sample sizes and sampling errors for other subgroups are available upon request. In addition to
sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in
conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

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Dispositions and response rates

Final dispositions AAPOR code Total
Completed interview 1.1 2,596
Logged onto survey; broke off 2.12 41
Logged onto survey; did not complete any items 2.1121 23
Never logged on (implicit refusal) 2.11 282
Survey completed after close of the field period 2.27 0
Completed interview but was removed for data quality 1
Screened out N/A
Total panelists in the survey 2,943
Completed interviews I 2,596
Partial interviews P 0
Refusals R 346
Non-contact NC 1
Other O 0
Unknown household UH 0
Unknown other UO 0
Not eligible NE 0
Total 2,943
AAPOR RR1 = I / (I+P+R+NC+O+UH+UO) 88%

Cumulative response rate Total

Weighted response rate to recruitment surveys 12%
% of recruitment survey respondents who agreed to join 72%
the panel, among those invited
% of those agreeing to join who were active panelists at 57%
start of Wave 82
Response rate to Wave 82 survey 88%
Cumulative response rate 4%

© Pew Research Center, 2021

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Topline questionnaire
Pew Research Center
Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey
July 21, 2021 Release

Methodological notes:

• Survey results are based on national samples. For further details on sample designs, see
Methodology section and our international survey methods database.

• Due to rounding, percentages may not total 100%. The topline “total” columns show 100%,
because they are based on unrounded numbers.

• Since 2007, Pew Research Center has used an automated process to generate toplines for
its Global Attitudes surveys. As a result, numbers may differ slightly from those published
prior to 2007.

• The U.S. survey was conducted on Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel. Many
questions have been asked in previous surveys on the phone. Phone trends for comparison
are provided in separate tables throughout the topline. The extent of the mode differences
varies across questions; while there are negligible differences on some questions, others
have more pronounced differences. Caution should be taken when evaluating online and
phone estimates.

• Since 2020, the Italy survey has been conducted by telephone; surveys were conducted
face-to-face in 2002 and 2007-2019.

• In 2021, the Greece survey was conducted by telephone; all prior surveys in Greece were
conducted face-to-face.

• Not all questions included in the Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey are presented in this
topline. Omitted questions have either been previously released or will be released in
future reports.

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