A copy of this particular YouGov poll was sent to me by a friend and I found the results rather interesting. Granted, the poll is just slightly dated as the data was collected last year from January 14th to the 20th of 2022. That said, I don't think the results would skew much from this time last year. Indeed, on some issues such as transgenderism, I suspect the public would overestimate the population even more so today.
Let's do a quick test and see how you do on some issues.
1. What percentage of the country is black?
2. What percentage is Hispanic?
3. What percentage of the country is gay?
4. What percentage of the country is transgender?
The answers will likely surprise you. They surprised me on some of the questions, although I think I was generally a lot closer than the average American's estimate. Ready for the answers for the above?
1. 12% of Americans are black, while those polled thought it was 41%.
2. 17% of Americans are Hispanic, while those polled thought it was 39%
3. 3% of the population is gay or lesbian while people estimated it to be 30%.
4. 1% of the population is transgender, while people estimated it to be 21%.
Of course these skewed viewpoints are often exacerbated by our media, entertainment, news sources, and even our sports and politics. I won't bother going into an in-depth dialogue regarding the polling estimated numbers versus the actual numbers. There are a few things that did stick out for me though.
1. Most people polled think 20% (1 out of 5 Americans) have a household income of $1 million or more. The actual number is a fraction of 1%.
2. People thought only 49% owned a house while 65% is that actual number.
3. People said only 66% of Americans own a car, while actually 88% do.
4. People said 33% (1 in 3 Americans) is atheist. In reality only 3% identified as such.
5. People thought 40% of Americans are veterans. The truth is only 6% actually served in the military.
I think most of this poll speaks for itself, but I did find the average American's perception of the truth versus the reality to be quite fascinating. What do you think?
H/T: Carrie
5 comments:
It proves what I always thought. Americans don't have a clue especially about themselves.
I question some of those numbers. Only 3% gay? Most scientists and researchers would disagree that and put it closer to 10%.
The frequently-repeated claim that 10% of the population is homosexual originates with Alfred Kinsey's research ending in 1963, which was seriously flawed, especially in his sampling, in ways that tended to greatly over-estimate the frequency of homosexuality and also of pedophilia. Kinsey was an acknowledged bisexual, and I have heard it claimed that he was also a pedophile, so he had something of an incentive to try to normalize both homosexuality and pedophilia in the mass public mind.
(I am not trying to imply that homosexuality and pedophilia are related or similar. I'm simply describing the facts of Kinsey's research.)
More modern surveys, including in other developed countries, have pretty consistently shown 2% to 4% of the population being predominantly homosexual in orientation, with some fluctuation due to how people who are bisexual to varying degrees either self-identify or are defined by the survey criteria.
I suppose it's possible that 1% of the population self-identifies as transgender, but this category is largely a recent re-interpretation of the kind of bodily dysphoria that many adolescents experience, and which sometimes continues even later in life. In most cases the feeling of being "born in the wrong body" goes away on its own with maturation. Many people who are gender-nonconforming when young, if left alone, grow up to be normal gays and lesbians.
The term "atheist" just means a person who doesn't believe that God (or any gods) exist. In the US, the term still carries substantial stigma in most regions, so many people who fit the definition do not self-identify with the term. If you go by actual beliefs, a clearer picture emerges. According to Gallup, around 80% of Americans "believe in God", while 64% are "convinced" of it. Many people's concept of God is so fuzzy and un-thought-out that it's very questionable what they "believe in", if anything. According to Pew, 56% of Americans "believe in God as described in the Bible". More to the point, these numbers have been trending significantly downward for years; the picture has changed enormously in just the last two decades. Unlike race or sexual orientation, religion or atheism are beliefs, not immutable inborn traits, and people's beliefs can and do change.
The "Hispanic" category is also a bit problematic, since it's a cultural category rather than a racial one. At least half of Hispanics in the US are what most people would consider "white", and people of Hispanic origin whose families have been in the US for three or four generations, and have undergone the normal process of cultural assimilation and intermarriage, are likely to identify as "white" and eventually stop thinking of themselves as Hispanic at all. This mirrors the earlier pattern with immigrant groups such as Italians, Irish, etc who were once thought of as distinct from "white". (I discussed this here.)
I have a little difficulty swallowing some of the "what Americans believe" figures. A country that was 30% gay and 21% transgender would look vastly different from the society we actually have -- surely anyone who gave the matter any thought would realize that. It seems that a lot of the respondents aren't giving these questions much thought.
Jerry, that was my initial thought too that most Americans are not self-aware of the composition of our nation's demographics either and if they thought about their answers and what society would actually look like if their estimated percentages were accurate, then things would be vastly different than they currently are. I think the media and entertainment specifically help widely warp those perceptions.
Infidel, thanks for some great context. 3% of the population being gay seemed pretty accurate to me. I agree with your assessment regarding transgender Americans. I was surprised that the phenomena was prevalent in as many as 1% of our population frankly. I suspect the number is probably a bit lower in actuality, and as you say, if drastic hormone therapies and mutilating surgeries are not performed, many of these gender dysphoria issues will indeed sort themselves out as maturation continues.
Regarding atheism, I was rather surprised that the number was as low as stated. I think this is a growing category, and as you stated, I think there are many folks that "believe in God" whom do not have well-thought-out philosophies on this and are not sure what that actually means. Orthodoxy in the three Abrahamic faiths is shrinking it would appear.
Thanks for your comments, gentlemen!
I was referred to your recent post via Burr Deming's FairandUnbalanced blog -- and I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed it, along with the comments (especially the one by Infidel).
From my perspective, the "actual" numbers provide an excellent example of how influenced people are by the media. But I suppose it has pretty much always been thus, so why should anyone be surprised?
Hi Nan! Thanks for stopping by and commenting. While Burr and I don't always see eye to eye, he is still my friend and a good man.
As for the comments, Jerry is always good to add his insights and I have been impressed with Infidel's knowledge on a wide range of topics. His comments are a welcome addition to this site.
Hope to see you back too! :)
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