This week, the People of Greece research platform recorded the habits of Greeks around electoral choice and political debates, asked their opinion on the fairness of court decisions, traced the role of consumption in Greeks’ everyday life and the meaning of satisfaction from buying a product, and recorded the degree of use of online shops for supermarket purchases.
The findings show that:
- Rationality, habit and momentary emotionalism equivalently describe the way Greeks decide their electoral choice. Family and place tradition is recorded as having a limited influence on shaping the voting choices of only 1/3 of the population.
- Left, and right Greeks discuss politics, the former with those who disagree and the latter with those who agree. Centrists, on the other hand, more often avoid political discussions.
- The vast majority of Greeks believe that court decisions in the country are not fair, with no dominant interpretation of this between the view that the law is not right and the view that the law is not properly applied by judges.
- Consumption shows significant correlations with the emotional state of Greeks. Firstly, consumption is perceived as the optimal method of decompression from the tension of everyday life by more than 20% of Greeks and, above all, Greek women. Secondly, satisfaction with a purchased product is identified with the product’s ability to improve individual mood by ¼ of Greeks, and especially Greek women.
- The pre-election and consumption habits of Greeks show a correlation, as those who show tendencies towards rationality in their electoral behavior are distinguished by corresponding tendencies in their consumption behavior (e.g. use of a shopping plan, satisfaction with the quality or usability of products purchased), while those who appear more momentary and emotional when making electoral choices do the same as consumers (e.g. propensity to consume as a way out of the tension of everyday life).
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Online supermarkets are gaining a growing audience, especially among younger customers, although physical stores continue to be the main point of shopping.
See in detail the opinion of Greeks in the infographics below.
Habits of electoral behavior
- One in three Greeks, mostly men and self-identified left-wingers, say that what they do most often before elections is to read and compare positions. One in four Greeks, mostly over 55, say that they simply replicate their previous vote without doing anything special. Finally, one in five Greeks, mostly women and self-identified right-wingers, say that what they do most often before elections is to scan the “mood of the moment” and decide “with a sense of the moment”.
- One in three Greeks, mainly younger and right-wing self-identified Greeks, say that they take into account the tradition of their family or place when deciding how to vote.
More than half of Greeks say they often discuss politics, while just one in three say they avoid such discussions. Women and self-identified people in the center are the groups that most often avoid discussions. - Older voters and right-leaning voters tend to choose to discuss politics with people with whom they have common positions.
Judicial decision on the deadly fire at Mati
- The awareness of the Court of Appeal’s decision on the defendants of the deadly fire in Mati is high, especially among the older age groups.
- Four out of five Greeks agree with the view that judicial decisions in Greece are often not fair. As to the reason they attribute to the issuing of unfair judgments, Greeks are divided between those who think that the law is not right and those who think that judges do not apply the law correctly. Blaming judges is much stronger among left-wing voters.
Consumption habits
- Greeks are divided in two in terms of the degree of planning their purchases, with half of them, mainly middle-aged and older, using a mental plan or list for their purchases, while the other half, mainly younger, are more often spontaneous in their purchases.
- Greeks who choose their vote having studied positions and political programs during the election period are more likely to use a purchase plan, while those who choose based on a “sense of the moment” are more likely not to use one.
- More than one in five Greeks choose consumption as a method of decompressing from the stress of their daily lives. The proportion is comparatively higher among young people and women.
Greeks who choose to vote based on a “sense of the moment” are more likely to turn to consumption as a method of decompression from the stress of their daily lives. - One in three young people under 35 identify the satisfaction of buying a product with the negotiation (‘bargaining’) to obtain it, rather than with the quality or usability of the purchased item.
Supermarket
- Visiting a physical store to buy everyday consumer goods remains the main way Greeks shop, even though one in ten Greeks, and one in five Gen Z Greeks, use online stores either exclusively or as an equivalent to physical stores.
