Animal Rights and You
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Survey of Animal Rights Activists
In June of 1990, two Oregon State University researchers conducted a
questionnaire survey of animal rights activists at the "March for the
Animals" in Washington, D.C. Interviews with activists yielded
demographic, attitudinal, and behavioral data.
Method
To assure randomization of respondents, interviewers were evenly
spaced around the periphery of animal rights rallies; each interviewer
entered into the crowd by an assigned number of steps, selected the
closest person, then counted three persons to the right and initiated
an interview. Four hundred twenty-six interviewers were initiated with
seven refusals and seven "incompletes, " yielding a final sample of 412
(a 97 percent response rate).
Summary
The researchers concluded that "typical respondents were Caucasians,
highly educated urban professional women approximately thirty years
old with a median income of $33,000.00.. ... Most activists think of
themselves as Democrats or as Independents, and have moderate to
liberal political views. they were often suspicious of science and
made no distinctions between basic and applied science, or public
versus private animal research. The research suggest that animal
rights activism is in part a symbolic manifestation of egalitarian
social and political views concerning scientific and technological change.
Demographic Data
Education
Some college or university education - 79%
Undergraduate degree - 22%
Advanced graduate or professional degree - 19%
Race/Ethnicity
White - 93%
Black - 2%
American Indian, Hispanic American Asian - 3%
Gender
Female - 68%
Male - 32%
Age
19 or under - 10%
20 to 29 - 32%
30 to 39 - 29%
40 to 49 - 19%
50 or over - 10%
Income
$19,999 or under - 19%
$20,000 to $39,999 - 35%
$40,000 to $59,999 - 22%
$60,000 to $79,000 - 12%
$80,000 or more - 8%
Don't know or no answer - 4%
Population of Areas of Residence
50,000 or more - 66%
10,000 to 50,000 - 19%
Less than 10,000 - 10%
Don't know or no answer - 5%
Attitudinal and Behavioral Data
Political ideology (1 = most conservative, 9 = most liberal
1 - 1%
2 - 1%
3 - 4%
4 - 5%
5 - 17%
6 - 14%
7 - 26%
8 - 21%
9 - 11%
Views concerning different occupations and groups (100 = most
positive, 0 = most negative)
Occupation or Group, average Rating
Animal rights advocates - 93
Environmentalists - 88
Feminists - 70
Veterinarians - 70
Farmers/ranchers - 30
Scientist - 28
Politicians - 26
Businessmen - 25
"The main cause of animal exploitation is the world view that humanity
has dominion over the environment"
Strongly agree - 61%
Agree - 26%
Neither agree nor disagree - 4%
Strongly disagree - 4%
Missing data - 1%
Views concerning science
Science does more harm than good - 52%
Science does more good than harm - 26%
Don't know or no answer - 22%
(The researchers note that these results differ significantly from
those of most Americans, almost 60% of whom believe that science does
more good than harm; only 5% believe that science does more harm than
good.)
Views on animal research which does not harm animals and which helps
people.
Disapprove - 55%
Neither approve nor disapprove - 16%
Approve - 26%
Missing data - 3%
Views on keeping pets at home
Approve - 87%
Neither approve nor disapprove - 9%
disapprove - 3%
Missing data - 1%
Written elected representatives about animal rights
Yes - 74%
No - 26%
Campaigned for candidates who favor animal rights
Yes - 38%
No - 61%
Don't know or no answer - 1%
The researchers note that "compared to the general public, or even
campaign contributors, this level of political activity is truly
extraordinary. ..... Marchers were characterized by profound commitment
to the movement and to continued action within the political system."
Source: Wesley V. Jamison (College of Agricultural Sciences, Oregon
State University) and William M. Lunch (Department of Political
Science, Oregon State University). "Rights of Animals, Perceptions of
Science, and Political activism: Profile of American Animal Rights
Activists," Science technology, & human Values, Vol. 17, No. 4, Autumn
1992, pp. 438-45. Some of the data presented here are from an earlier
unpublished paper, also by Jamison and Lunch, entitled "A Preliminary
report: Results from Demographic, Attitudinal, and Behavioral Analysis
of the Animal Rights Movement."
