Online Poll Shows Positive Attitude Toward Organic Food

While only a small percentage of Americans regularly buys organic food, a large majority believes that organic food is not only healthier but better for the environment, according to a just-released Harris Poll.

In a poll of 2,392 Americans in September, Harris Interactive also found that most people -- even those who buy organic food all or most of the time -- agreed that organics were more expensive that conventional foods. Despite the perceived cost disadvantage, though, the many positives -- including better taste -- most people identified indicates the public is likely to continue buying organic food in growing numbers, Harris Interactive said.

"The many people who have positive attitudes to organic food suggest that the increase in consumption of organic food is likely to continue and, in a few years time, could account for a much larger share of the food market," Harris Interactive reported.

The poll found that people most likely to buy organic foods all or most of the time tend to live in the Western U.S. (10 percent) more than in the Midwest (7 percent), South (7 percent) or East (5 percent). They also tended to be so-called Echo Boomers, who are aged 18 to 30 (10 percent) or Gen Xers, aged 31 to 42 (9 percent) more than 43- to 61-year-old Baby Boomers (6 percent) or older adults (3 percent).

Education and political persuasion also seem to indicate whether people buy organic foods more often. The poll found more organic buyers among college graduates and post-college grads (11 percent each) than among high school graduates or those who took some college (6 percent each). People who considered themselves liberal were also more frequent organic buyers (11 percent) than those who said they were moderate (6 percent) or conservative (7 percent).

More poll respondents also said their organic buying habits had either stayed the same (59 percent), increased somewhat (26 percent) or increased a great deal (6 percent) over the past year than said their organic choices had decreased (5 percent overall).

Overall, people in general -- whether they bought organic food regularly, some of the time, rarely or never -- tended to agree that organic food "is much better for you and, even though it usually costs more, the extra expense is worth it to have better food" (36 percent) or had no opinion (36 percent) rather than to say they believe organic food is a "waste of money" (29 percent overall, as opposed to only 1 percent for those who bought organics all or most of the time).

The online Harris Poll surveyed adults aged 18 and over between Sept. 11 and 18. The results were weighted to adjust for differences in online habits, age, sex, race and other factors to account for actual proportions in the general population.

Harris Poll, "Large Majorities See Organic Food as Safer, Better for the Environment and Healthier -- But Also More Expensive." URL: (http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/)