Poll Reveals Divided Understanding of #MeToo

Enlarge this image

1,006 U.S. adults conducted October 23-24. Interviews were conducted online in English. The poll has a credibility interval of +/- 3.5 percentage points for all respondents, +/- 6 percentage points for Democrats, +/- 6.2 percentage points for Republicans, +/- 4.7 percentage points for women and +/- 5.3 percentage points for men.Credit: Sean McMinn/NPR NPR/Ipsos Poll hide caption

toggle caption

NPR/Ipsos Poll

1,006 U.S. adults conducted October 23-24. Interviews were conducted online in English. The poll has a credibility interval of +/- 3.5 percentage points for all respondents, +/- 6 percentage points for Democrats, +/- 6.2 percentage points for Republicans, +/- 4.7 percentage points for women and +/- 5.3 percentage points for men.Credit: Sean McMinn/NPR

NPR/Ipsos Poll

Perceptions of Sexual Harassment and Assault Divided by Politics and Gender

It's been roughly one year since the #MeToo movement began a national dialogue about the pervasiveness of sexual assault. A new Ipsos study conducted with NPR investigates Americans' views on what constitutes sexual assault, as well as perceptions of both victims and the accused. The two surveys, one on sexual assault and one on sexual harassment find that partisanship and gender play a significant factor in views on false allegations and the treatment of victims in the face of viral awareness campaigns. Additionally, in comparison to a similar study on sexual harassment from December of 2017, those partisan views of harassment have widened.

Read more insight and analysis from NPR: HERE
Read the full survey results: HERE

Figures are attributable to NPR/Ipsos.

Key Findings:

• 43% of Americans that believe the #MeToo movement has gone too far, three quarters of Republicans (75%) agree, while only about a fifth of Democrats (21%) believe the same.
• 32% of Americans believe sexual assault accusations are less relevant if they happened a long time ago and not reported at the time - including 54% of Republicans vs. 21% of Democrats.
• 18% believe sexual assault accusations are less relevant if committed by someone when they were young – including 28% of Republicans vs. 12% of Democrats.
• 60% of Republicans say they would consider voting for a candidate who was accused of sexual assault (depending on specific circumstances), compared to 64% of Democrats who say they would not.
• 85% of men believe that those who are accused of sexual assault should be given the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise, compared to 73% of women
• 83% of women believe that those who report being victims of sexual assault should be given the benefit of the doubt, compared to 72% of men.
• 51% of men report finding it hard to tell what constitutes sexual assault compared to 42% of women.
• 50% of Americans say it can be hard to tell what is sexual harassment down from 59% in a study from December 2017.
• 46% of women believe it is hard to tell what is sexual harassment (down from 54%), along with 54% of men (down from 64%).
• 56% of Americans believe that false accusations of sexual assault against men are very common.
• 60% of men believe that false accusations of sexual assault against men are very common, compared to 51% of women.
• 75% of Americans believe there are significant personal and professional costs for women who report being sexually assaulted.
• 69% also agree that #MeToo has created an environment where those accused of assault or harassment will be held accountable for their actions.
• 33% of men worry that they will be unfairly accused of sexual assault, compared to 32% of women who believe that men they care about will be unfairly accused.
• 67% of Republicans say harassment victims should be given the benefit of the doubt, down from 78% in a study from December 2017.