The percentage who thought it was bad - 37 percent - rose with lower household income and among those with lower education. But even among the well-educated and better-off, there was a surprising degree of rage against the machines. Thirty-one percent of those with incomes over $100,000 said modernizing factories hurt the economy, while a quarter of college graduates felt that way.
The report was based on a survey initiated by Rockwell Automation, a Milwaukee-based maker of factory automation equipment, on behalf of an industry group called Smart Manufacturing Coalition, which was formed last fall to among other things encourage government support for the development of advanced factory technology. John Bernaden, a Rockwell spokesman and vice chairman of the coalition told the Journal that the results were shockingly bad. For example, one question showed that 14 percent of respondents thought modernized factories were actually bad for them as individual consumers, while 45 percent said it made no difference. The survey was conducted by Princeton, NJ-based ORC International, which surveyed 1,009 adults.
