Americans Say No to Sharing Currency With Canada: Survey.

Business Editors

GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 4, 2002

Americans are feeling pretty protective of their greenbacks--two-thirds of U.S. residents do not want Canada to adopt the U.S. dollar as its currency, and an overwhelming 84% reject the idea of the U.S., Canada and Mexico creating a common North American currency.

A new survey by NFO WorldGroup, a leading provider of research-based marketing information and counsel, reported that a majority of Americans, especially those located in states bordering Canada, not only felt strongly about keeping the U.S. dollar within national frontiers, but also felt that it shouldn't be replaced by any other currency, as has occurred in Europe with the multinational adoption of the Euro as a common currency.

"I am not surprised by the results," says David Thompson, senior consultant with NFO Financial Services Group. "Our research with both mainstream and affluent U.S. households clearly finds an overwhelming sense of pride in our economy and a belief that our currency is symbolic of our world leadership position. Making any of the changes referenced in this study I think carries too big a risk for most Americans."

Over 2,500 Americans participated in the survey, which also included 3,200 Canadians. The survey presented respondents with three currency options:

1. The U.S. dollar should be adopted by Canada as its new currency. The Canadian dollar should be abolished.

2. The U.S. dollar should be the common North American currency--shared by Canada and Mexico, which should both give up their currencies.

3. The U.S., Canada and Mexico should all give up their currencies and adopt a totally new one as a common North American currency.

The viewpoint is far different in Canada, where, one third of respondents indicated that they would consider adopting the U.S. dollar and 34% are open to a new common currency for North America. Overall, more than half of Canadians are prepared to accept at least one of the three options presented, with only 43% being unprepared to accept any change in their currency.

"The combination of Europe's wide-scale adoption of the Euro and the Canadian dollar's historic lows earlier this year has fueled discussion in Canada around dollarization and a common North American currency. If the Canadian dollar continues to gain strength, then Canadians' views may very well change in the future," says David Stark, public affairs director of NFO CFgroup.

This is in sharp contrast to the reaction from U.S. respondents, where 60% oppose all currency options. On the Canadian front, residents of the most western province, British Columbia, felt most strongly about maintaining their national currency, while residents of Quebec are most open to considering a new currency option for their country.

The survey also asked if Canada should be considered part of the U.S. Not surprisingly, 78% of Americans disagreed with this statement. Canadians were against the concept by nearly a four-to-one margin.

For this survey, national representative samples were used in both the U.S. and Canada. NFO WorldGroup conducted online interviews with 2,505 American adults between April 10 and April 17. The results are considered accurate to within 1.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. NFO CFgroup conducted telephone and online interviews with Canadians between March 25 and April 17. For a sample survey of this size, the margin of error is 1.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

NFO CFgroup (formerly CF Group Inc.), an NFO WorldGroup company, is one of Canada's largest full-service marketing, opinion and social research organizations.

NFO WorldGroup is one of the world's leading providers of research-based marketing information and counsel. "Marketing minds specializing in research(TM)", NFO has facilitated Fortune 500 clients' business decisions for more than 50 years by providing in-depth knowledge and understanding of consumers and brands through research. Their services include comprehensive counsel on market evaluation, product development, brand management, customer satisfaction, pricing, distribution and advertising effectiveness. NFO is a worldwide leader in Internet-based research and maintains one of the world's largest Interactive panel communities. They are one of The Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG - news), and have majority-owned operations in 40 countries. Visit NFO WorldGroup on the web (www.nfow.com).