GLBT Community More Upbeat About Personal Finances and US Economy

New York, N.Y. and Washington, D.C. - As the U.S. economy shows added signs of recovery and stability, a new national poll asked a broad cross-section of Americans their expectations for the economy's improvement nationally as well as their feelings about their own financial circumstances.

Three-quarters (74%) of all Americans believe the economy will improve or remain the same this year, however four in ten gay and lesbian adults (39%) expect the 2011 economy to improve, while that optimistic attitude is held by only 29% of heterosexual adults. Based on several earlier surveys conducted by Harris Interactive, lesbians and gay men have consistently held more optimistic views on the economy.

In addition, when asked about their own financial security compared to last year, 30% of gay and lesbian adults agree overall they feel more secure, while the same can be said of just 19% of heterosexual adults.

These attitudes, of course, may be shaped also by how adults judge President Obama's handling of the economy -half (50%) of gay and lesbian adults rate President Obama as doing an excellent or pretty good job, and 29% of heterosexual adults score the Administration's economic stewardship the same way.

The new nationwide survey of 2,519 U.S. adults (ages 18 and over), of whom 312 self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT), was conducted online between December 6 and December 13, 2010, by Harris Interactive, a global market research and consulting firm, in conjunction with Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc., a strategic public relations and marketing communications firm with special expertise in the LGBT market.

"In tough economic times, nearly all households feel pain and make sacrifices," noted Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications. "Same-sex couples and their families, in fact, have a more fragile safety net today under existing outdated laws and unequal policies. Nonetheless, they increasingly believe, more than others, that this recovery is becoming real and tangible."

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EDITOR'S NOTE: To see the data tables, please visit: http://www.witeckcombs.com/news/releases/20110118_harris.pdf or call 202-887-0500 x19.

Methodology
Harris Interactive conducted the study online within the United States between December 6 and 13, 2010, among 2,519 adults (ages 18 and over), of whom 312 self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender. We over-sampled gay men and lesbians in order to allow for more detailed analysis of these groups.

Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. In addition, the results for the gay and lesbian sample were weighted separately based on profiles of the gay and lesbian population that Harris Interactive has compiled through many different online surveys. Propensity score weighting also was used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.