Los Alamos and Sandia Verses the New Mexico Film Industry

Albuquerque, NM – According to the 2023 Garrity Perception Survey (GPS) the National Laboratories (Los Alamos and Sandia) outpace, in favorability, the New Mexico Film and Motion Picture Industry, 65 percent to 63 percent respectively.  The 2023 scientific survey of 408 New Mexico residents has a 95 percent level of confidence.

The numbers, post-pandemic, shifted tremendously for the Film Industry, dropping 15 points since the 2020 GPS. The National Labs also dropped post-pandemic slightly, slipping two points since the 2020 GPS.

“As the motion picture Oppenheimer entertains audiences around the world, we were curious to see which of the industries were in the driver’s seat of perception; both are ‘favored’ but the National Labs a little more so,” said Tom Garrity, President and CEO of The Garrity Group Public Relations. “Favorability of the film industry appears to have been impacted by the Rust movie-set shooting; it is really the only thing that captured the headlines in regards to the industry locally and would help to explain the 15-point drop from the last survey in 2020.”

According to the 2023 GPS, residents who are more likely to have a favorable impression of the national labs include those with a four-year college degree or higher and people living in  Northwestern New Mexico and the Albuquerque metro area.  Interestingly residents living in the North Central part of the state, where Los Alamos is located, favor the film industry (74%) over the national labs (69%). In addition to North Central New Mexico, residents more likely to have a favorable opinion of the film industry includes registered Democrats and those who identify as an independent voter.

Full insights from the 2023 Garrity Perception Survey Book will be available in August 2023.

About the Garrity Perception Survey

The 2023 Garrity Perception Survey is a scientific survey of New Mexico residents conducted by Research & Polling Inc. The survey has a 95% level of confidence.  All interviews were conducted between March 15 and April 2, 2023.

About The Garrity Group

The Garrity Group is a New Mexico public relations firm that helps small businesses to be heard and large organizations to be understood. Established in 1997 and based in Albuquerque, our team provides media relations, issue management, crisis communications, digital media marketing and event awareness.