China, Germany, UK top index measuring public acceptance of refugees; Russia bottom Globally, 1 in 10 would let refugees stay in their home, 3 in 10 in their neighbourhood Call on World Humanitarian Summit to back “Global Compact” for helping refugees 19 MAY 2016 – The vast majority of people (80%) would welcome refugees with open arms, with many even prepared to take them into their own homes, according to a global survey commissioned by Amnesty International. The new Refugees Welcome … “New “Refugees Welcome Index” Shows Government Refugee Policies Out Of Touch With Public”
Sharp increase in percentage who say elections are not free and fair LONDON, 26 MARCH 2015 – On the eve of the general election campaign, dissatisfaction with the UK political system is at high levels. Over seven in ten UK citizens (73%) say that their country is not “governed by the will of the people,” according to a new GlobeScan survey of 1,000 British adults. This sense of alienation is a lasting trend in the minds of Britons as similar … “New Poll Shows UK Voters Disillusioned With Political System”
How did we lose the room? This is the question facing the sustainability community as GlobeScan’s latest Radar data shows a decline in how serious the global public considers environmental issues to be. With ample scientific evidence to the contrary (see the latest IPCC report), how do we explain the decreasing public concern in environmental issues? And, on World Environment Day 2014, what does this mean for organisations trying to make headway on sustainability? GlobeScan’s recent Radar public opinion survey asked … “Enough of the Doom and Gloom: Amidst Declining Environmental Concern, Real Leadership is Needed to Re-Engage the Public”
In light of the recent global debate on the morality of mass surveillance programmes, GlobeScan has teamed up with the BBC World Service to ask over 17,000 people what their perspectives are on freedom and the right to privacy. In previous blog posts, we have used this data to show that Peru, Australia and Canada represent the freest democratic states (as indicated by our Perceived Freedom Index), and that an individual’s sense of freedom is not determined by socioeconomic or … “Freedom is in the Eye of the Beholder: Trust in National Governments is Associated with Perceived Freedom of Speech”
National governments must lead the transition to sustainable development, our experts say. Yet the latest GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey confirms what we all know: Governments are failing to deliver, resoundingly. What’s new about these latest findings is just how low the performance of national governments has fallen in the eyes of observers. Virtually none of our expert panel that was surveyed rates government performance as excellent, and just 3 percent give it a positive score of 4 out of 5. In the context of … “How Governments Fail to Lead on Sustainability”
Our recent polling for the BBC World Service showed a very mixed picture of the state of freedoms today, especially in established democracies following Edward Snowden’s allegations of widespread surveillance by the US Government. In order to better understand how different nationalities and groups rate their freedom, GlobeScan’s Advanced Analytics Team applied some statistical techniques to reveal deeper insights into how perceptions differ across the 17 countries included in our latest poll of 17,000 people. The first analysis we performed … “A Deeper Look at Freedom: How Perceptions Differ Across Countries and Groups”
A number of recent media reports, including in The Economist and Financial Times, have raised the subject of the declining state of our democracy. Some have likened recent actions by so-called “established democracies” as resembling those of autocratic states – such as the recent banning of social media in Turkey and the US government’s blanket on-line surveillance of citizens worldwide. How have all these news reports affected people’s sense of freedom and democracy in this post-Snowden age? Is there a … “Democracy by the Numbers: How Personal Freedoms are Perceived in the Digital Age”
After months of street protests that had culminated in violence, the Ukrainian parliament voted to impeach President Viktor Yanukovych on February 22nd. Yanukovych had previously sacrificed closer ties with Europe in favour of a pro-Moscow stance and his removal from power provoked a strong military, diplomatic and economic backlash from Russia, as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s project of a ‘Eurasian Union’ of former Soviet states to rival the EU was dealt a potentially terminal blow. But Russian unease is also … “Departure of Ukraine’s Yanukovych Holds Lessons for Putin”
Against the backdrop of one the world’s most severe typhoons and landmark levels of atmospheric CO2, the 19th Conference of the Parties has kicked off this week in Warsaw, Poland. COP19, intended to lay down the groundwork ahead of a new global climate change agreement in Paris in 2015, needs significant progress by politicians, business leaders, opinion formers and scientists if they are to reach consensus. The general population is unlikely to hear much about the conference via mainstream media … “Attention COP19: Global Public Supports Major Action To Tackle Climate Change”
With frustration at the lack of progress on sustainability being expressed from many quarters, who should we be expecting to drive change? Experts in sustainability tend to believe the impetus has to come from consumers: when asked about sustainability supply and demand dynamics earlier this year, only around one in four (23%) thought that society required a greater supply of regulations and options for consumers from companies and governments, while 41 percent thought that more consumer demand is required. Experts … “Governments, Businesses, and Consumers Look to Each Other to Drive Increased Sustainability”