Survey: Americans are helping neighbors – and want to do even more
Americans are rolling up their sleeves and pitching in to help their neighbors – and are eager to do even more throughout their communities.
According to results from a national survey released earlier this month by Wells Fargo and Ipsos, Americans helped their neighbors on average six times in the last year without expecting anything in return and 77% did so at least once.
Furthermore, 73% of Americans strive to support their communities by shopping local and on average Americans shopped at or supported a local small business 11 times in the last year.
More than half of Americans would like to volunteer more time (57%) and donate more money (57%) to local organizations. Also, 53% wish they knew where to go to learn which organizations in their community are looking for volunteers or donations.
In its news release, Wells Fargo commissioned an online survey of more than 5,000 U.S. adults to understand how Americans give back and what they prioritize most in their communities.
The survey is part of The Bank of Doing campaign.
The survey also asked what Americans would do if given $1 million to spend in their community. On average, respondents would allocate the most money toward affordable housing investments.
Overall, the top three areas in which Americans believe their local community needs more financial investment are in the availability of affordable housing (70%), the condition of roads and sidewalks (69%), and support for small businesses (67%).
The good news is survey respondents also believe that progress has already been made in their communities. For example, many Americans are satisfied that their local communities have made improvements in small business support (60%), internet infrastructure (60%), and job creation (46%).
Additionally, the survey identified what each state’s residents would prioritize for financial investment in their home state. In Ohio, that was the condition of roads and sidewalks, and the need for more of a financial investment.
The online survey was conducted among 7,067 total adults age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii by Ipsos on behalf of Wells Fargo from May 31 through June 15, 2023.
The sample consisted of 5,077 adults 18+, divided evenly across each state in the U.S., for a minimum of 100 respondents from each state, and 1990 adults 18+, within 14 targeted media markets within the U.S. Weights were applied to national and state data cuts to match the Census on age, gender, region, race/ethnicity, and income.
The targeted markets were also weighted to Census data on age, gender, race/ethnicity, and household income.
The precision of Ipsos online non-probability polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points for all respondents, plus or minus 1.7 percentage points for the national sample, and a range of 11.0–12.0 percentage points for the individual states.