Harris Interactive has released the results of The Harris Poll on awareness of nanotechnology conducted online from June 18 to 25, 2012.
In the survey, 2,467 US adults aged above 18 years shared their opinion about nanotechnology awareness. Although awareness of nanotechnology is still in the lower level, there were some surprising differences in viewpoint. The awareness level of people in the sub-65 age group is considerably higher (37% to 46%) when compared to people in the 65+ age group (26%). Nevertheless, more than 50% of those older people strongly believed that the nanotechnology’s potential benefits offset the associated risks, whereas the belief among other age groups varied between 32% and 36%.
In the survey, 44% of Midwesterners responded that they know nothing about nanotechnology. This is probably higher than those from other regions West (31%), South (36%) and East (33%). However, percentages reporting at least a little were almost equal in all regions and there were no meaningful disparities in the optimism/pessimism across the regions. Internet was the major information source (54%) for people who had known a little about nanotechnology and also for most regions and across all age groups. However, the source for Easterners was both Internet sources (44%) and TV shows (45%) and for older people, it was television news programs and newspapers, while people aged 18-29 who are familiar with nanotechnology mentioned friends and family as the source.
For people who have at least heard of nanotechnology wanted to see the application of nanotechnology mainly in the healthcare (63%). Energy production (59%), environmental clean-up (55%) and computers (54%) are the other interested areas. The least interested fields were clothing (12%), food (13%) and skincare (15%). The percentage of Older Americans aware of nanotechnology who wanted to see nanotechnology applied in healthcare was very high (80%-83%). Region-wise, there was no significant disparity in preferred applications for people aware of nanotechnology, but Midwesterners showed least interest in using nanotechnology in food (6%) compared to people in other regions.
Harris Interactive’s Research Director for Health Care, Peter Tomanovich informed that this information may be useful to people who plan investments, make informed decisions, and customize advocacy, marketing and education initiatives in the nanotechnology field.
Source: http://www.harrisinteractive.com
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