Wave 11: Amid Multiple American Crises, Racism Looms Largest

Now in Wave 11 (week commencing June 12), Mindshare's POOL survey continues to examine how COVID-19 is affecting Americans' lives and the impact on media consumption and behaviors.

Wave 11 has four key insights:

• Sentiment remains negative overall as Americans enter June, but as the country continues to ease stay-at-home restrictions there are worries over a second wave. While the COVID pandemic and the economic impacts are still a major concern, currently the protests on racial inequality and broader issues about racial discrimination are more urgent for Americans.   
• A majority of Americans agree that they support the Black Lives Matter movement and believe that we need to do more to end police brutality and racial inequality. Brands have an important role to play within this space (a sentiment felt more with Black adults than White adults); however Americans want meaningful action rather than just posts and some are wary that brands are being opportunistic, not genuine.
• As a result of the pandemic, Americans say they’re likely to save more than spend. And when shopping in the future, they believe they’ll continue shopping at local or black-owned businesses. For those who live in areas where restrictions are lifted, more people are starting to shop in physical stores.
• Going out still feels risky for Americans, especially live events, protests, and attending sporting events. However, traveling by car and staying home largely are seen as low or no risk. For those who are planning to take a vacation or travel in the future, they are planning to take lower risk approaches such as vacationing outdoors, not flying, and staying in US/locally near residences. Overall, many have postponed or will not take a summer vacation this year.

Insights and takeaways featured in MediaPost:

Excerpt: It's not just the economy, stupid. That's one of the takeaways from the latest edition of Mindshare's COVID-19 tracking research, which in recent weeks began including questions about racial injustice and police brutality and found that issues related to racism are now the most pressing among Americans.

As important as the pandemic and economic downturn have been, riots/looting, the Black Lives Matter protests, and racial discrimination ranked as the three most urgent issues, according to Mindshare's latest report. Conversely, elections and voting, as well as the reopening of America, ranked as the last most pressing issues.

The study also found that the majority of Americans believe brands should play an important role in combating racial inequality and injustice.

Read the full MediaPost article, and see more insights and charts.

More data and stats: