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Techday NZ
18 hours ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
LG launches Radio Optimism to boost meaningful digital bonds
LG Electronics has launched a campaign titled Radio Optimism with the aim of addressing social disconnection in digitally-focused societies by encouraging more meaningful interactions through music. The initiative aligns with the company's Life's Good brand promise and allows individuals to compose and send customised songs to friends or family using artificial intelligence-enabled tools. Through this interactive platform, participants are able to generate unique musical creations and associated album artwork by inputting personal prompts, with the intention of supporting deeper relationship building. By introducing Radio Optimism, LG is seeking to challenge the prevalence of superficial online exchanges, such as social media likes and short comments, which have increasingly replaced genuine interpersonal communication. The campaign builds on the company's prior efforts to engage younger audiences and create positive digital environments, following last year's campaign that aimed to promote uplifting content via social algorithms. Kim Hyo-eun, Head of Brand Management Division at LG, commented on the importance of the campaign's intentions. "As technology advances, meaningful human connections become increasingly vital to enrich our lives. LG continues its commitment to bringing optimism into customers' daily lives, staying true to our enduring brand promise of 'Life's Good.'" A global survey commissioned by LG, conducted through Focaldata and spanning the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India and Canada, underscores the extent of social disconnection experienced by many. The research found that 68 percent of respondents reported increased difficulty in forming real friendships. One third of those surveyed indicated they had one or fewer meaningful connections in the past month, with 8 percent stating they had had none at all. Jean M. Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, commented on the findings and their broader social context. "One of the most reliable predictors of happiness is having deep and meaningful relationships. Yet today, many people are spending more time online and less time connecting in person. Social media in particular tends to create shallow relationships rather than the deep connections people need. It's common for people to have hundreds of followers but no one to talk to in real life if they need support. We need to build more meaningful connections with those around us. That might turn around the pronounced decline in happiness that's occurred over the last decade." The concept behind Radio Optimism is said to be inspired by the role traditional radio has played in creating shared experiences, using music and storytelling to bridge distances between listeners. LG's adaptation of this idea allows users to craft and distribute digital songs, which can also be shared more widely for global discovery via the platform. According to the survey, nearly 90 percent of respondents believe that having meaningful personal bonds contributes to a more optimistic attitude towards life. The Radio Optimism campaign aims to respond to this view by providing a medium for self-expression through music, enabling users to reach out to loved ones and, potentially, to form richer social networks. The company has ensured the campaign's accessibility by launching the platform in both English and Spanish, with plans to add further language support in subsequent months, encouraging participation from a broader international audience. LG states that the AI-powered tools draw on a carefully selected music dataset to help interpret user instructions, resulting in the generation of diverse and individualised content within the platform's interface. The survey, which included 5,000 participants equally distributed across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India and Canada, was conducted among adults aged 18 to 45, offering a representative snapshot of attitudes to connection and optimism in five major markets. The Radio Optimism campaign reflects LG's ongoing approach to engaging with digital-native audiences and responding to concerns about well-being and fulfilment in a highly connected, but at times isolating, digital environment.
Time of India
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
How popular is Donald Trump in Canada, which he believes is meant to become 51st state of US?
Donald Trump is extremely unpopular in Canada, a recent poll revealed. President Donald Trump got a stern reply from Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre after Trump wished luck to the people of Canada as it votes. But the wish was not without a reminder that Canada is 'meant' to become the 51st state of the US. A recent poll from Politico and Focaldata revealed that Trump is immensely unpopular in Canada/ In a survey of 2,826 Canadians, only 14 per cent viewed Trump favorably, while 75 per cent viewed him unfavorably. Conservatives were more likely to view him favorably, but still only 24 percent said they do, while 61 percent view him unfavorably. "Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st. State of the United States of America," Trump posted Monday. "No more artificially drawn line from many years ago. Look how beautiful this land mass would be. Free access with NO BORDER. ALL POSITIVES WITH NO NEGATIVES. IT WAS MEANT TO BE! America can no longer subsidize Canada with the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year that we have been spending in the past. It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!" Trump said. Poilievre asked Trump to stay out of the issue that concerns only Canadians and said, "President Trump, stay out of our election. The only people who will decide the future of Canada are Canadians at the ballot box." "Canada will always be proud, sovereign and independent and we will NEVER be the 51st state." "Today Canadians can vote for change so we can strengthen our country, stand on our own two feet and stand up to America from a position of strength," Poiliviere said.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Poll: Canadians despise Trump and distrust US
Three quarters of Canadians dislike President Donald Trump — and Conservatives appear likely to pay a painful price for it in the country's Monday election, according to a POLITICO/Focaldata poll of Canadian voters. About two in five voters (39 percent) told Focaldata, a U.K. pollster, that Trump was a top concern in the election, second only to cost of living (60 percent). Since Trump's return to the White House — and Justin Trudeau's exit as Canada's prime minister — the Conservative Party led by populist Pierre Poilievre has watched a 25-point polling lead disintegrate in front of its eyes. Conservatives now trail in most surveys, including the POLITICO/Focaldata poll. Canada's election has transformed into a test of Trump's political influence beyond the United States. In a backlash against his threats and trade war, about half of Canadians now consider the U.S. as a hostile power, a dramatic turn among moderate and Liberal-leading Canadians. In a Time magazine interview published Friday, Trump again reiterated his desire to annex Canada: 'The only way this thing really works is for Canada to become a state.' Focaldata, which surveyed 2,826 respondents online from April 18 to 23, measured Trump's net favorability at minus 61 among Canadians, 'a deeply negative standing' that the pollster suggests could sway the outcome against the Conservatives. Liberal Leader Mark Carney has campaigned on the proposition that his experience at the helm of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England makes him best qualified to defend Canada. The poll suggests voters agree that he, not Poilievre, is better suited to managing the nation's relationship with Trump and the United States. 'President Trump and I … we share some experiences,' the newbie politician said after being sworn in as prime minister last month. 'I have been in the private sector. I have worked in the real estate sector. I have done large transactions. I have worked with him during his first presidency at the G20, at the G7.' With two days until Election Day, it remains to be seen whether Carney has closed the deal. There are signs, though, that polls might be underestimating Conservatives' support. When Focaldata asked voters who they believed their local communities would vote for, Conservatives fared slightly better. James Kanagasooriam, Focaldata's chief research officer, says drawing on the 'wisdom of the crowds' proved accurate in Brexit and during both Trump elections. 'The result suggests a Conservative vote lead and a sizeable polling error,' Kanagasooriam told POLITICO in an email. He added that it's a trick to know how much weight to give the finding since it's the only time the firm has deployed the question in Canada. 'While most traditional survey sampling suggests a narrow majority for Carney (including our own), there is an alternative method that paints a very, very different picture,' he said. Focaldata gives the Liberals the edge in this final weekend of a 37-day campaign. The firm found 40.5 percent support nationwide for Carney's Liberals. Poilievre's Conservatives trail at 37.5 percent. Liberals hold a 9-point lead in all-important Ontario — 46 percent to 37. Carney's party also leads in Quebec (38 percent), ahead of the Bloc Québécois (28 percent) and Conservatives (22 percent). Conservatives lead in every province west of Ontario, including by 8 points — 42 percent to 34 percent — in British Columbia. Jagmeet Singh's progressive New Democratic Party trails nationally at 10.7 percent. And only 58 percent of its support is rock solid, compared to 71 percent of Conservative voters and 68 percent of Liberals who say their preferences are final. Helping Carney is that he appears to have persuaded a large chunk of voters that, despite Poilievre's persistent efforts, he is not Justin Trudeau. A plurality of voters — 46 percent — say the incumbent prime minister 'mostly represents something different from Justin Trudeau's leadership' — and will vote for him, or not, based on his own record. That's a boon for Carney, since Trudeau is underwater with voters, the poll found; nearly three out of five hold unfavorable views of the former prime minister. Focaldata's survey — with the Liberals polling slightly ahead of Conservatives — is in line with most national polling at this point in the campaign. A closer look at favorability ratings helps reveal why, with Carney enjoying a net positive 10-point favorability rating but Poilievre net unfavorable by 7 points. Some of that comes from Carney's popularity among both parties' voters. Liberals like Carney slightly more (86 percent) than Conservatives like Poilievre (84 percent). At the same time, Conservatives dislike Carney less (65 percent) than Liberals dislike Poilievre (74 percent). Combined with other voters' views, that creates the favorability gap in Carney's favor. Trump, meanwhile, is unpopular with everyone. The poll suggests 3 out of 5 Conservatives have an unfavorable view of the president. After taking over the Conservative Party in 2022, Poilievre traveled the country to share the message that 'Canada is broken.' Polls showed Canadians widely agreed — until Trump's Oval Office broadsides inspired a surge of patriotism. Focaldata's survey indicates the Conservative still narrowly leading among the cost-of-living set, but Carney dominates the cross-border file. Liberals and Conservatives agree that inflation and cost of living are key concerns, but a 52 percent majority of Liberals also said that Trump and Canada's relationship with the U.S. is a top issue, almost double the 27 percent of Conservatives who say the same. (They ranked Trump sixth on their list of top worries.) Liberals ranked healthcare at their number 3 concern, while Conservatives put it at 4 — just after housing affordability. The POLITICO/Focaldata poll found that Conservatives are more worried than Liberals about immigration and refugee policy as well as crime and public safety — concerns that are reflected in Poilievre's campaign. Voters of course back their own parties and candidates when it comes to trusting them to manage most issues, but there are key differences in those numbers that reveal each leader's strengths and weaknesses. When it comes to managing Trump and the United States, for example, Liberals almost universally say Carney is the better choice. But one in eight Conservatives actually agree that they think Carney and the Liberal Party would do a better job, the survey shows, with an additional one in six Conservatives saying they 'don't know' when asked to pick. On the flip side, eight percent of Liberals think Poilievre would grow jobs and the economy better than Carney would. Some Liberals also believe Poilievre would manage immigration and crime better than Carney would. One in eight Liberals said Poilievre is best at managing immigration and refugee policy, while one in five Liberals say the Conservative leader is better at tackling crime. Nearly half of voters, 45 percent, said Trump's actions have influenced their vote choice 'moderately' or 'a great deal,' with a strong partisan gap. Liberal voters were far likelier than Conservatives to consider Trump as they picked their party: 53 percent of Liberal voters said Trump's actions have significantly influenced their vote, while only one in four Conservative voters said the same. The divide extends more broadly to views of the United States. Nearly two-thirds of Liberals (64 percent) say the U.S. is either 'enemy or hostile' or 'generally unfriendly, but not an enemy'. A mere 19 percent see the US as an ally or generally friendly. Meanwhile, 40 percent of Conservatives say the U.S. is an ally or generally friendly, with 34 percent saying the opposite. About half of Canadians, 49 percent, now view the U.S. as 'unfriendly' or 'an enemy' — an overall view that is now less favorable even than China, where a yearslong diplomatic freeze has chilled relations. Mickey Djuric contributed to this report.
Politico
26-04-2025
- Business
- Politico
Trump Effect holds sway as Canadians vote
Three quarters of Canadians dislike President Donald Trump — and Conservatives appear likely to pay a painful price for it in the country's Monday election, according to a POLITICO/Focaldata poll of Canadian voters. About two in five voters (39 percent) told Focaldata, a U.K. pollster, that Trump was a top concern in the election, second only to cost of living (60 percent). Since Trump's return to the White House — and Justin Trudeau's exit as Canada's prime minister — the Conservative Party led by populist Pierre Poilievre has watched a 25-point polling lead disintegrate in front of its eyes. Conservatives now trail in most surveys, including the POLITICO/Focaldata poll. Canada's election has transformed into a test of Trump's political influence beyond the United States. In a backlash against his threats and trade war, about half of Canadians now consider the U.S. as a hostile power, a dramatic turn among moderate and Liberal-leading Canadians. In a Time magazine interview published Friday, Trump again reiterated his desire to annex Canada : 'The only way this thing really works is for Canada to become a state.' Focaldata, which surveyed 2,826 respondents online from April 18 to 23, measured Trump's net favorability at minus 61 among Canadians, 'a deeply negative standing' that the pollster suggests could sway the outcome against the Conservatives. Liberal Leader Mark Carney has campaigned on the proposition that his experience at the helm of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England makes him best qualified to defend Canada. The poll suggests voters agree that he, not Poilievre, is better suited to managing the nation's relationship with Trump and the United States. 'President Trump and I … we share some experiences,' the newbie politician said after being sworn in as prime minister last month. 'I have been in the private sector. I have worked in the real estate sector. I have done large transactions. I have worked with him during his first presidency at the G20, at the G7.' With 2 days until Election Day, it remains to be seen whether Carney has closed the deal. There are signs, though, that polls might be underestimating Conservatives' support. When Focaldata asked voters who they believed their local communities would vote for, Conservatives fared slightly better. James Kanagasooriam, Focaldata's chief research office, says drawing on the 'wisdom of the crowds' proved accurate in Brexit and during both Trump elections. 'The result suggests a Conservative vote lead and a sizeable polling error,' Kanagasooriam told POLITICO in an email. He added that it's a trick to know how much weight to give the finding since it's the only time the firm has deployed the question in Canada. 'While most traditional survey sampling suggests a narrow majority for Carney (including our own), there is an alternative method that paints a very, very different picture,' he said. Focaldata gives the Liberals the edge in this final weekend of a 37-day campaign. The firm found 40.5 percent support nationwide for Carney's Liberals. Poilievre's Conservatives trail at 37.5 percent. Liberals hold a 9-point lead in all-important Ontario — 46 percent to 37. Carney's party also leads in Quebec (38 percent), ahead of the Bloc Québécois (28 percent) and Conservatives (22 percent). Conservatives lead in every province west of Ontario, including by 8 points — 42 percent to 34 — in British Columbia. Jagmeet Singh's progressive New Democratic Party trails nationally at 10.7 percent. And only 58 percent of its support is rock solid, compared to 71 percent of Conservative voters and 68 percent of Liberals who say their preferences are final. Helping Carney is that he appears to have persuaded a large chunk of voters that, despite Poilievre's persistent efforts, he is not Justin Trudeau. A plurality of voters — 46 percent — say the incumbent prime minister 'mostly represents something different from Justin Trudeau's leadership' — and will vote for him, or not, based on his own record. That's a boon for Carney, since Trudeau is underwater with voters, the poll found; nearly three out of five hold unfavorable views of the former prime minister. Focaldata's survey — with the Liberals polling slightly ahead of Conservatives — is in line with most national polling at this point in the campaign. A closer look at favorability ratings helps reveal why, with Carney enjoying a net positive 10-point favorability rating but Poilievre net unfavorable by 7 points. Some of that comes from Carney's popularity among both parties' voters. Liberals like Carney slightly more (86 percent) than Conservatives like Poilievre (84 percent). At the same time, Conservatives dislike Carney less (65 percent) than Liberals dislike Poilievre (74 percent). Combined with other voters' views, that creates the favorability gap in Carney's favor. Trump, meanwhile, is unpopular with everyone. The poll suggests 3 out of 5 Conservatives have an unfavorable view of the president. After taking over the Conservative Party in 2022, Poilievre traveled the country to share the message that 'Canada is broken.' Polls showed Canadians widely agreed — until Trump's Oval Office broadsides inspired a surge of patriotism. Focaldata's survey indicates the Conservative still narrowly leading among the cost-of-living set, but Carney dominates the cross-border file. Liberals and Conservatives agree that inflation and cost of living are key concerns, but a 52 percent majority of Liberals also said that Trump and Canada's relationship with the U.S. is a top issue, almost double the 27 percent of Conservatives who say the same. (They ranked Trump sixth on their list of top worries.) Liberals ranked healthcare at their number 3 concern, while Conservatives put it at 4 — just after housing affordability. The POLITICO/Focaldata poll found that Conservatives are more worried than Liberals about immigration and refugee policy as well as crime and public safety — concerns that are reflected in Poilievre's campaign. Voters of course back their own parties and candidates when it comes to trusting them to manage most issues, but there are key differences in those numbers that reveal each leader's strengths and weaknesses. When it comes to managing Trump and the United States, for example, Liberals almost universally say Carney is the better choice. But one in eight Conservatives actually agree that they think Carney and the Liberal Party would do a better job, the survey shows, with an additional one in six Conservatives saying they 'don't know' when asked to pick. On the flip side, eight percent of Liberals think Poilievre would grow jobs and the economy better than Carney would. Some Liberals also believe Poilievre would manage immigration and crime better than Carney would. One in eight Liberals said Poilievre is best at managing immigration and refugee policy, while one in five Liberals say the Conservative leader is better at tackling crime. Nearly half of voters, 45 percent, said Trump's actions have influenced their vote choice 'moderately' or 'a great deal,' with a strong partisan gap. Liberal voters were far likelier than Conservatives to consider Trump as they picked their party: 53 percent of Liberal voters said Trump's actions have significantly influenced their vote, while only one in four Conservative voters said the same. The divide extends more broadly to views of the United States. Nearly two-thirds of Liberals (64 percent) say the U.S. is either 'enemy or hostile' or 'generally unfriendly, but not an enemy'. A mere 19 percent see the US as an ally or generally friendly. Meanwhile, 40 percent of Conservatives say the U.S. is an ally or generally friendly, with 34 percent saying the opposite. About half of Canadians, 49 percent, now view the U.S. as 'unfriendly' or 'an enemy' — an overall view that is now less favorable even than China, where a years-long diplomatic freeze has chilled relations. Mickey Djuric contributed to this report.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why everything you assumed about Gen Z is wrong
Generation Z, that enigmatic demographic of men and women born between 1997 and 2012 or so, have been presumed to hold wildly progressive views. In the stereotype of public imagination this is – or has been – a group that will go to the wall for net zero, dump a partner if their views on gender politics give them the 'ick', or leave any job that has the temerity to demand their presence in the office. Except it may not be true. A growing mass of evidence suggests that far from the leftie snowflake cohort of lore, Gen Z are disparate in their politics and care about the same things older generations do – jobs, houses, security – more than culture wars or social issues. A report from the John Smith Centre at Glasgow University, published this week, has added to this feeling. Working with the polling company Focaldata, the institute conducted 260 interviews with people aged 18 to 29. Contrary to what may have been expected, it found that Gen Z are more worried about crime than the environment, surprisingly split on the benefits of migration, and focused on jobs, housing and family above all. 'It goes back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs,' says Eddie Barnes, the director of the John Smith Centre. 'The bottom of that triangle is basics (including food, water, shelter, sleep, housing, health, finances). That's where the younger generation are. This is a generation that has not had much in the way of wage growth, they've had extremely high housing costs, and financial insecurity. Those, not culture war issues, are the top priorities. What do people care about? It's the financial stuff. Crime ranks much more highly than the environment, which was a big surprise.' When asked what the biggest contributors were to them feeling 'nervous, anxious or on edge', respondents replied: 'financial worries' (37 per cent), 'work pressures' (23 per cent) and 'job security or unemployment' (20 per cent). Climate change languished on 10 per cent. Another question asked: 'When you think about community, which of the following groups or places come to mind?' Some 42 per cent said family, 38 per cent said their 'local town or city', and 36 per cent said their 'friends and social circles'. Gender, by comparison, was only 7 per cent. The 'most important issues facing the UK today' were inflation and the cost of living, health care, housing and crime. Only 20 per cent said climate change and the environment. The figure is down on a global survey from 2019, which found that 41 per cent of young people thought climate change was more pressing than anything else. The poll carried out for the John Smith report did not ask a specific question about the pandemic, but Barnes says it came up in focus groups conducted as part of the research. 'There was a feeling Covid was yet another thing that had damaged young people's upbringing,' he says. 'One young person said, 'We'll never get that time back again.' There wasn't bitterness or anger, but a feeling of lament.' Whatever the various causes, the result is a generation apparently more hardened to economic reality than millennials. 'Home ownership and the economy are far more important than climate change,' says 25-year-old Oliver Freeston, a Reform councillor from Lincolnshire. 'Climate change is natural, it's been happening for thousands of years. If we have this crazy drive to net zero it's going to bankrupt the country. It's not lowering bills, it's increasing them. For young people it's already tough with stagnating wages and a high tax burden. We don't need it to be made any harder.' In his constituency, he says, young people echo fears from older generations about excess migration, too. 'People say it's only the older people concerned about migration,' he says. 'I know so many people my age who are becoming politically motivated because they're not happy with the way the high street is changing, how they can't get on the property ladder, how rents are going up, they can't get a GP appointment. This affects young people just as much as it affects older people.' Some 51 per cent of respondents surveyed for the John Smith Centre research agreed immigration has changed their communities for the better, but 32 per cent disagreed. Immigration had more support among better-educated and higher-earning groups, as it does in older generations. But a concern with economic basics is not confined to young people on the political Right. Saira Banu, also 25 and completing a master's degree at King's College London, contributed to a focus group for the report. Originally from Dubai, she voted Labour at the last election, but agrees the priority for her peers is financial. 'I'm constantly worrying about money because I live in London and it's expensive and there's a housing crisis,' she says. 'I have friends who commute in from Birmingham because they can't afford to live in London. It's a privilege to be able to worry about the climate and culture wars and things like that.' On politics itself, the survey found that Labour retained a lead, with 30 per cent of respondents saying they would vote for it, but the Greens and Reform were tied in second place, at around 15 per cent each. The Tories would get only 9 per cent of the vote. But more broadly the report found respondents were 'disillusioned with traditional parties' and that Labour and the Conservatives could no longer count on their vote. 'Why are we talking about Gen Z as these hyper-progressive or hyper-regressive people who are super interested in social issues and identity issues, when very clearly their concerns are about cost of living, getting a house and getting a good job?' says James Kanagasooriam, of Focaldata. 'Gen Z is being parsed by other people in a way that isn't, I think, potentially that accurate. [The study] is a great sense check on what is actually important.' He adds that Gen Z are less homogeneous in their voting intentions than previous generations: 'People who are trying to divine the next generation need to remind themselves that they are not like the generation before them. Prior to the 2019 general election, boomers were almost unilaterally voting for the Right and millennials were unilaterally voting for the Left. It's clear that Gen Z people will go their own way.' Donald Trump's re-election in the US, helped by a stronger-than-expected performance among young men, had prompted fears that young people in the UK similarly crave a powerful leader. A study commissioned by Channel 4 earlier this year found that 52 per cent of Gen Z thought 'the UK would be a better place if a strong leader was in charge who does not have to bother with elections'. The John Smith report found that they support democracy by 57 per cent to 27 per cent, but agree that 'democracy in the UK is in trouble' by 63 per cent to 24 per cent. More generally, the picture painted in the John Smith report is surprisingly sunny. Despite their fears about housing, the cost of living and job insecurity, nearly two thirds of respondents said they felt 'optimistic' about their own futures, although again this figure skewed higher among those with higher levels of education and income. Barnes, who was formerly the head of strategy for Ruth Davidson, the ex-leader of the Scottish Conservatives, says that the report points to a simple path to improving trust in politics. 'To show that politics is working it's pretty simple,' he says. 'Build more houses, get an economy growing. That's the big message coming from this poll. 'There has been a lot of doom and gloom about Gen Z, and that 'oh, God, it's going to hell',' he adds. 'But perhaps we should be wary of catastrophising them when they seem to be broadly positive about the country.' With a yawning pensions deficit and a murky economic outlook, Britain's ageing population is counting on Gen Z to provide for them. It is lucky that the kids seem – perhaps surprisingly – all right. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
