Buying American

by Jack Loechner, Mar 21, 2013, 7:55 AM

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According to The Harris Poll, at a time when many of the companies thought of as being as American as apple pie are actually outsourcing a growing portion of their production abroad, "buying American" has never been a more confusing proposition.

Regarding the question "...in terms of buying American products, how important are each of the following to your purchase decision?..." these are the Important plus Very Important reasons for preferring to “Buy American:”

• Keeping jobs in America            
• Supporting American companies              
• Safety concerns with products assembled/ produced outside of the U.S.            
• Quality concerns with products assembled/ produced outside of the U.S.              
• Patriotism            
• Human rights issues with products assembled/ produced outside of the U.S.              
• Decreasing environmental impact since products don't need to travel as far              

Addressing what factors contribute to the perception of a product as "American" in the online survey of U.S. adults, being manufactured in the United States is clearly the top factor in being considered an "American" product, with 75% of Americans agreeing that "A product needs to be manufactured within the U.S. for me to consider it 'American'." This puts domestic manufacture ahead of the importance of being from a U.S. company, being made from American parts, or being American designed.

• Roughly half of U.S. adults agree that "A product needs to be made by a U.S. company for me to consider it 'American'" (52%) and that "A product needs to be made from parts produced in the U.S. for me to consider it 'American'" (47%).
• Only one-fourth of Americans (25%) agree that "A product needs to be designed by an American for me to consider it 'American'."

Factors In Considering A Product To Be "American" (% of respondents; Base: U.S. Adults)
		Generation (Age)				Gender
To consider a product American, it needs to be:	Total	Age 18-35	Age 36-47	Age 48-66	Age 67+	Males	Females
Manufactured within the U.S.	75	69	72	81	79	71	79
Made by a U.S. company	52	50	46	54	56	48	55
Made from parts produced in the U.S.	47	48	45	46	51	48	47
Designed by an American	25	27	22	23	25	23	26
Not at all sure	9	14	9	6	7	11	8
Source: Harris Interactive, March 2013;  Multiple response OK

Mike de Vere, President of the Harris Poll, said "... many consumers don't know.. that companies very traditionally seen as American, from GE to John Deere to Levi Strauss, to the big three automakers... outsource... portions of their operations overseas... it takes a lot of attention and research to determine if you're buying American..."

The majority of Americans indicate feeling that it is either "very important" or "important" to "buy American" for the product types tested, with the strongest such feelings expressed for major appliances, furniture, clothing, small appliances, and automobiles. In what may come as a surprise, Republicans and Democrats seem to have some common ground on the subject: their importance ratings to "buy American" are either similar or identical.

• Perceived importance of buying American products increases with age across all categories; 18-35 year olds place the least importance on the practice, those 48 and older place the most
• Additionally, women are more likely than men to indicate that it is either "very important" or "important" to buy American in most categories.

Importance Of Buying American, By Product Type (Base: U.S. Adults)
		Generation (Age)				Gender
	Total	(18-35)	(36-47)	(48-66)	(67+)	Males	Females
Major appliances (refrigerator, washing machine, etc.)	75%	57%	74%	86%	85%	71%	79%
Furniture	74	54	76	86	84	71	78
Clothing	72	56	76	80	80	67	77
Small appliances (microwave, vacuum, etc.)	71	53	72	81	81	66	76
Automobiles	70	58	72	76	75	65	74
Sports/exercise equipment (bike, running shoes, etc.)	66	50	70	76	71	64	69
Home electronics (TV, blu-ray player, etc.)	66	49	69	74	76	60	72
Personal electronics (smartphone, tablet, computer, etc.	66	46	69	76	76	61	71
Jewelry	63	47	67	69	70	58	67
Motorcycles	59	46	62	67	61	58	61
Novelty/gift items	59	45	64	66	61	51	66
Source: Harris Interactive, March 2013; Multiple response question

When asked to rate the importance of a series of motivations for buying American, over seven in ten U.S. adults rate each tested reason either "very important" or "important." Drilling down into the "very important" ratings uncovers more diverse results. The clear frontrunner for this measure is "keeping jobs in America," with 66% of U.S. adults rating it "very important." 56% also assign top importance levels to "supporting American companies," while 49% do so for "safety concerns with products assembled/produced outside of the U.S."

• On the other end of the spectrum, "Decreasing environmental impact since products don't need to travel as far" receives the lowest "very important" rating (32%).
• Women and older adults are again more likely to rate the tested reasons "very important."                                   

Importance Of Buying American, By Product Type (% of Responses: Very Important)
	Total	Metro Status
Product Group		Urban	Suburban	Rural
Major appliances (refrigerator, washing machine, etc.)	75%	72%	74%	81%
Furniture	74	71	73	80
Clothing	72	70	72	75
Small appliances (microwave, vacuum, etc.)	71	72	68	77
Automobiles	70	71	67	74
Sports/exercise equipment (bike, running shoes, etc.)	66	64	65	72
Home electronics (TV, blu-ray player, etc.)	66	69	63	71
Personal electronics (smartphone, tablet, computer, etc.	66	66	64	69
Jewelry	63	62	60	69
Motorcycles	59	55	58	66
Novelty/gift items	59	57	56	66
Source: Harris Interactive, March 2013Note: Multiple response question

When asked directly, and without any prompting as to brand names, place of manufacture or other factors, to name the company they perceive as most "American*," U.S. adults' minds go first to the auto industry, with two of Detroit's big three topping the list.

• Ford is the top mention by a wide margin.
• Combined mentions of General Motors / GM and GM-owned Chevrolet are next strongest.

Other well-known companies to make the list included the golden arches and America's top-selling soda brand.

• McDonald's
• Coca-Cola
• Walmart                                       

Company Perceived As Most "American" (% of Respondents Base: U.S. Adults)
		Age Group
The Most 'American'	Total	18-34	35-44	54-54	55+
Ford	15 %	16%	20%	13%	13%
GM + Chevrolet [NET]	9	8	9	13	7
General Motors / GM	5	5	5	6	4
Chevrolet	4	3	4	7	4
McDonald's	4	4	6	5	2
Coca-Cola	4	3	4	5	4
Walmart	3	6	2	3	2
Harley-Davidson	1	*	2	2	2
Apple	1	2	1	1	1
General Electric / GE	1	1	2	*	1
Johnson & Johnson	1	*	*	1	2
Microsoft	1	1	*	*	2
Pepsi	1	1	1	1	1
Procter & Gamble	1	-	*	1	2
Kraft	1	1	1	1	-
Levi Strauss	1	*	1	2	*
Disney / Walt Disney	1	*	1	*	1
IBM	1	*	*	*	1
Other	8	10	6	7	7
None	9	7	8	9	10
Don't know	15	12	14	16	18
Declined to answer	5	7	7	6	3
Source: Harris Interactive, March 2013; Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

For additional information from Harris Interactive, please visit here.

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1 comment on "Buying American".

1. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited
   

   commented on: March 21, 2013 at 2:06 p.m.
   Importance, considered and finding are not the same.

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