WEBVTT - YouGov's Jemma Conner Talks European Polling

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. So new polling from

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<v Speaker 1>Yugo from across nine EU countries is giving us a

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<v Speaker 1>fresh insight into the biggest political issues facing the continent

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<v Speaker 1>and how voters think their governments and the European Union

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<v Speaker 1>is handling them. The company surveyed more than a thousand

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<v Speaker 1>people in countries including France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland

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<v Speaker 1>and Jema Connor Associate director Yugov joins me now in

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<v Speaker 1>studio for more to discuss JMA, good morning. Let's start

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<v Speaker 1>with some of the big issues in this survey as well.

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<v Speaker 1>We know that inflation has come down massively in the

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<v Speaker 1>Euro Area since twenty twenty two, but economic and cost

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<v Speaker 1>of living issues still very prominent across your survey. How

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<v Speaker 1>does that play out among the various countries where you

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<v Speaker 1>survey people.

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<v Speaker 2>Absolutely so. If we look at the data from these

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<v Speaker 2>nine European countries, we can see that there's generally a

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<v Speaker 2>pretty gloomy outlook from their national economies. People generally think

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<v Speaker 2>that their government is doing a bad job of managing

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<v Speaker 2>the economy, and actually the EU do a bad job

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<v Speaker 2>for managing the European economy as well. If we look

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<v Speaker 2>particularly at the cost of living. People are struggling. We

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<v Speaker 2>ask one particular question where we ask about people's personal

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<v Speaker 2>experiences of the cost of living, and people generally finding

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<v Speaker 2>that they're having to make cuts or they expect to

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<v Speaker 2>make cuts in the future. This has particularly felt quite

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<v Speaker 2>strongly in Romania where fifty eight percent of people so

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<v Speaker 2>they've already made cuts to their typical spending at home

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<v Speaker 2>and expect to make further cuts in the future. So

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<v Speaker 2>people really struggling at the moment and actually expect to

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<v Speaker 2>continue to struggle into the future.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, because the perceptions of the future are very interesting

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<v Speaker 1>here as well. How worried are people about their future

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<v Speaker 1>economically and sort of the risks of a downturn of

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<v Speaker 1>the economy.

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<v Speaker 2>Absolutely, so we ask a question where we say, what

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<v Speaker 2>do you think the economy will look like in twelve

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<v Speaker 2>months time? And people are really negative here. So across

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<v Speaker 2>most of the countries people think that the economy will

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<v Speaker 2>be in recession. The only outlier here is Denmark, where

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<v Speaker 2>forty two percent think that the economy will be stable,

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<v Speaker 2>but that is stable rather than growing. There's no country

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<v Speaker 2>where people who actually have a positive outlook in that

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<v Speaker 2>next year or so you.

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<v Speaker 1>Tackle some of the big fiscal questions in this survey

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<v Speaker 1>as well, and in particular around defense spending, something that

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<v Speaker 1>many European countries have been ramping up. They're spending on that,

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<v Speaker 1>provoking difficult decisions as we know about what exactly the

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<v Speaker 1>governments are going to choose to spend their money on

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<v Speaker 1>as well. How supportive are the Europeans that you surveyed

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<v Speaker 1>of increasing spending on defense.

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<v Speaker 2>So when it comes to defense, geography really matters. So

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<v Speaker 2>those countries that are closest to Russia or at most

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<v Speaker 2>a threat from Russia have really different attitudes to those

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<v Speaker 2>in more western Europe. So countries like Poland Romania are

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<v Speaker 2>much more supportive of increasing financial spending contriting more to NATO.

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<v Speaker 2>They're also much more likely to say that NATO is

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<v Speaker 2>important to their country's defense. And when we ask what

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<v Speaker 2>they think of the biggest threats face in Europe, those

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<v Speaker 2>countries that are at threat from Russia and feel most

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<v Speaker 2>threatened are most likely to say that Ussian aggression is

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<v Speaker 2>the biggest threat face in the whole of Europe.

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<v Speaker 1>And I was interested in the way that the question

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<v Speaker 1>around the fans banding was phrase because it did make

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<v Speaker 1>reference to the other difficult decisions that governments have to

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<v Speaker 1>make and that what do they support it regardless of

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<v Speaker 1>the other issues that those governments are facing. So it's

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<v Speaker 1>an interesting one to reflect on as well. I want

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<v Speaker 1>to also touch on some of the issues around technology,

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<v Speaker 1>which you covered in this survey, because particularly the use

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<v Speaker 1>of AI and who's using it and where, because it

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps may not be as widespread as we may otherwise

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<v Speaker 1>have thought.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, absolutely so, people generally have an idea of what

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<v Speaker 2>AI is. They're less sure about the issues around AI,

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<v Speaker 2>and they're really not sure about whether it's a positive

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<v Speaker 2>or negative thing in terms of use. Often there's quite

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<v Speaker 2>a few people who've never used AI at all for

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<v Speaker 2>either work or for leisure. Particularly for work. For example,

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<v Speaker 2>forty percent of those in France say they've never used

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<v Speaker 2>AI for work, and there is more uptake in countries

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<v Speaker 2>like the Netherlands of Romania where people slightly more likely

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<v Speaker 2>to say that they're using AI. But the jury is

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<v Speaker 2>still really out on AI for the public.

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<v Speaker 1>And you did also ask as well about the question

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<v Speaker 1>of regulation of this technology, because of course the EU

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<v Speaker 1>has its AI Act. It's something that's been quite controversial.

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<v Speaker 1>It's come up, for example, and negotiations with the US

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<v Speaker 1>over trade as well. What's the view among the public

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<v Speaker 1>of how the EU is regulating AI.

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<v Speaker 2>This is one area where the public are very certain

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<v Speaker 2>how they feel. So they may not know that much

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<v Speaker 2>about AI, they may not know how they personally feel

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<v Speaker 2>about it, but they're absolutely certain that the AI industry

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<v Speaker 2>should be regulated over being allowed to kind of roam

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<v Speaker 2>free and innovate as quickly as it may want to.

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<v Speaker 2>A majority across all countries polled feel that regulation is

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<v Speaker 2>more important than that development.

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<v Speaker 1>Which is I think very interesting in the conversation that

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<v Speaker 1>we're having around AI as well. Now we're speaking to

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<v Speaker 1>you just ahead of European leaders arriving in Brussels for

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<v Speaker 1>the European Council later this week. In terms of a

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<v Speaker 1>big picture conclusion for policymakers out of your sera as well,

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<v Speaker 1>where do people feel like they should be focusing their

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<v Speaker 1>efforts in terms of the policy sphere.

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<v Speaker 2>It's certainly the economy. The economy is a big issue

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<v Speaker 2>for many countries, but actually the threat from Russia is

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<v Speaker 2>very real for those countries that are certainly geographically closer

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<v Speaker 2>or are in a strategic position for Russia. So places

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<v Speaker 2>like Denmark with the Baltic Passage and those countries are

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<v Speaker 2>feeling the threat from Russia and they're very supportive of

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<v Speaker 2>having more cooperation from the US, between the US and

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<v Speaker 2>the EU on security matters. They want NATO to be

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<v Speaker 2>playing a role, they want that defense, They want countries

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<v Speaker 2>to be contributing more to NATO to really feel that

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<v Speaker 2>they are being protected, and that threat from Russia is

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<v Speaker 2>very real. In Western Europe, the issue is more cost

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<v Speaker 2>of living that that is something that people are feeling

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<v Speaker 2>the pinch still and they don't feel that their national

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<v Speaker 2>governments or the EU are doing enough to support them

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<v Speaker 2>at the moment.