世論 What Japan Thinks

A little bit of politics for you today, as iShare decided to look at awareness of the American presidential election, in particular its effect on Japan.

Demographics

Over the 5th and 6th of November 2008 501 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.9% of the sample were male, 12.6% in their twenties, 48.3% in their thirties, 28.5% in their forties, and 10.6% in their teens or fifty or older. The sample seems to be drawn from a more technology-aware crowd than the average internet user, thus the geeks in the headline.

Just in case you are wondering who (or what) the Nocchi in the headline is, he is Nozomu Sato, a Japanese comedian who looks like Mr Obama, and in fact met him for a brief instant. I predict great things for Nocchi, as if I’ve learnt one thing about the entertainment industry in Japan, one sure way to get ahead is to be a one-trick pony, then milk it for all you’re worth!

Research results

Q1: Did you know that Mr Obama won? (Sample size=501)

Yes (to SQ)	86.0%
No	14.0%

Only 77.8% of those in their twenties were aware of his victory.

Q1SQ: Where did you first learn that Mr Obama had won? (Sample size=431)

Television	45.7%
Internet	39.9%
Newspaper	4.2%
Friends	3.7%
Radio	3.5%
Direct mail (eh?)	0.7%
Other	2.3%

Women were more likely to have heard from the television, men from the internet, which perhaps reflects the common roles of breadwinner and housewife.

Q2: Who did you support, Mr Obama or Mr McCain? (Sample size=501)

	All	Male N=270	Female N=231
Mr Obama	83.4%	80.7%	86.6%
McCain	16.6%	19.3%	13.4%

Q3: Was Mr Obama’s victory just as you predicted it would be? (Sample size=501)

	All	Male N=270	Female N=231
Just as predicted	92.8%	95.6%	89.6%
Surprising	7.2%	4.4%	10.4%

More women supported Obama, but they were also more surprised by his victory.

Q4: Do you expect Mr Obama’s victory to have a positive effect on the Japanese economy? (Sample size=501)

	All	Male N=270	Female N=231
Yes	39.1%	41.5%	36.4%
No	60.9%	58.5%	63.6%

Q5: Do you expect Mr Obama’s victory to have a positive effect on American-Japanese relations? (Sample size=501)

	All	Male N=270	Female N=231
Yes	41.9%	43.0%	40.7%
No	58.1%	57.0%	59.3%

Q6: Do you expect Mr Obama’s victory to have a positive effect on Nocchi/Nozomu Sato, the Obama impersonator? (Sample size=501)

	All	Male N=270	Female N=231
Yes	44.7%	41.9%	48.1%
No	55.3%	58.1%	51.9%