Younger Americans Less Likely to Buy Domestic Goods

Fresh concerns about US jobs being shipped overseas are not encouraging the public to 'buy American', according to a recent Ipsos/ Associated Press poll. Just over one-third say they regularly check labels to see if an item was made in the United States, and older Americans are more likely to do so than those who are younger.

Slightly more than half of Americans, 54 percent, said they would buy a higher-priced US-made product over a cheaper, foreign-made one, according to the poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Forty percent said they would buy the lower-priced product made in another country.

Nearly two-thirds, 63 percent, of those younger than 30 said they seldom if ever check to see where a product is made - more than three times the number who do. A majority of young adults said they would buy a lower-priced product from another country over a more expensive US one.

Older Americans, 60 and above, were almost twice as likely to say they usually or always check labels to see where a product is made. And by more than 2-to-1, they said they would buy an American product even if it cost more than lower-priced foreign goods.

If an American product and a similar foreign-made product were about the same price, an overwhelming majority of all age groups said they would buy American.

Just over two-thirds said they think sending jobs overseas hurts the US economy. And almost that many said they think outsourcing is mostly caused by the greed of corporate executives, not by the necessity for companies to compete.

The Associated Press Poll was conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Between May 17-19, 2004, the AP/Ipsos poll interviewed a representative sample of 1,000 adults nationwide.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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