Survey: Millennial Uber users don't care about the scandals

Many millennial users of Uber don’t seem to care about the ride-hailing company’s recent scandals, a new survey finds.
Many millennial users of Uber don’t seem to care about the ride-hailing company’s recent scandals, a new survey finds.

With a slew of controversies to ding its reputation, 2017 is turning out to be a tough year for Uber. But many users of the ride-hailing app who are millennials don’t seem to care.

That’s according to a new survey out this week from LendEDU, an online financial services marketplace, which found that 93% of millennials who have Uber will continue to use the ride-hailing app despite recent scandals. Those scandals include sexual harassment allegations, reports of a combative culture, and a dashcam video showing Uber CEO Travis Kalanick speaking harshly with a driver who complained about dropping fares.

LendEDU, which surveyed 1,531 millennials between March 3 to March 25, also discovered that female users were about twice as likely to quit the app as men, likely due to the allegations of sexual harassment reported by a former female engineer published online this February.

Uber millennial users
Source: LendEDU

Still, the fact that just 7% of polled users plan on quitting Uber corroborates what my colleague Ethan Wolff-Mann reported earlier this month. Users can list many reasons to quit the popular ride-hailing app but simply won’t because they find competitors like Lyft are seemingly more expensive or offer a bumpier user experience.

Uber, nonetheless, is attempting to right the ship with efforts that include searching for a new chief operating officer who could “partner” with Kalanick, as well as bringing in Uber board member Arianna Huffington to help lead an internal investigation into the sexual harassment allegations.

Meanwhile, Uber’s board is supporting Kalanick, as are a number of his fellow tech CEOs. Five tech CEOs my colleague Dan Roberts spoke to rejected the idea that he should resign.

JP Mangalindan is a senior correspondent for Yahoo Finance covering the intersection of tech and business. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

More from JP:

Why Snap may be more like Twitter than Facebook

How GameStop could bounce back after its epic sales miss

LinkedIn is getting a Facebook-like feature

Silicon Valley’s favorite sneaker has a wear-and-tear problem

How ‘video understanding’ could transform Facebook

Fry’s Electronics: How this tech retailer has survived the fall of brick-and-mortar

Why ‘experience can hurt tech workers in Silicon Valley

Why AI could be Silicon Valley’s latest ‘micro bubble’

Surprise and disgust: What 6 Silicon Valley CEOs said about Trump’s ban