An “overwhelming majority” of Americans — 77 percent — say they are
planning to prepare on some level for the possible adverse impacts of the
Y2K computer bug, a new Zogby America survey shows.
Almost half say they plan to stock up with food and emergency equipment
before the New Year. Overall, 49 percent said they were “concerned” over
potential problems that could result if computers in key business and
economic systems fail to recognize dates after Jan. 1, 2000, while about 50
percent said they were “not concerned.” The poll of 1,008 “likely voters”
was conducted in July.
Survey highlights include:
- Just over 19 percent of those surveyed said they planned to stock up in a
major way with survival foods and emergency equipment, while another 26
percent will stock up more lightly with food and emergency items. - On average, the 77 percent who will take some precautions — just in case
there are computer failures in some critical sectors such as power,
transportation, finance, health care or communications — plan simple steps,
such as verifying their financial and banking records (48 percent), or
keeping extra cash on hand (37 percent). About 33 percent will fill their
car’s gas tank, 23 percent will refill medical prescriptions, 13 percent
will stock up on heating fuel, 15 percent plan to review or alter their
investment portfolios, and about 20 percent plan to avoid air travel around
the New Year. - 20 percent plan no preparations, and two percent are unsure, the survey
shows.
While not weighing in on the actual technical problems Y2K may cause, Zogby
economic analyst David Beatty says, “At this point, it appears the public’s
responses to Y2K will not cause serious mischief for the economy. How people
respond will help some sectors and hurt others, but the effects are likely
to be brief.”
Regarding employment, Beatty predicts, “If some businesses, especially small
firms, are ill-prepared for Y2K, then some employees could be sidelined
temporarily, or there may be stepped-up demand for employees to fix the
computers or to perform tasks with workarounds.”
The Federal Reserve’s well-publicized plan to dramatically increase the
amount of cash in the overall money supply brought this comment from Beatty,
in light of the poll: “Some of the extra cash people hold outside the banks
will be spent for stocking up, sending it right back into the banks. If they
are holding extra cash in January, 69 percent say they will redeposit those
funds, though it seems likely a fair amount of it will get spent, possibly
adding zip to the economy in the new year if Y2K causes few problems.”
According to the survey, more than 62 percent of the public believes that
government, the media and business leaders have placed the right amount of
emphasis on Y2K solutions, while 19 percent say the three entities have
overreacted, and 14 percent say there’s been too little emphasis on Y2K
solutions.
Reflecting their personal concerns and interests, institutions people fear
may be negatively affected by Y2K include financial networks (35 percent),
government (31 percent), communications (30 percent), business and
manufacturing (30 percent), airlines (28 percent), cars and other
transportation (18 percent), public utilities (26 percent), health care
facilities (24 percent), and the military (23 percent), the survey shows.
