Only 3% Atheists… And all of them are here on Lemmy.
I know Americans love Jesus a whole lot but really only 4%. That just seems crazy low
I think it’s because people are still uncomfortable answering “atheist” on questionnaires and polls. It’s easier to say “no religious affiliation”, and most people are probably agnostic instead of atheist anyway.
I wouldn’t answer atheist because I feel that’s as much a belief as any religion. I’m agnostic. The most undecided choice possible.
Atheism is nothing more than a lack of belief in any god.
Yea, similarly there is no way 70% of Americans are Christian. That’s probably just the way they are raised and are likely to fill out if you don’t feel comfortable saying “atheist”.
70% Christian, 3% Atheist, 1% Muslim, 2% Jewish… WTF are the other 24%? Don’t tell me there are that many Buddhist/Hindu/Shinto/etc. folks here! Something’s not adding up.
You might be surprised about places other than SoCal and NY NY. Like growing up in Tennessee Alabama and Georgia, everyone seemed to have some affiliation. The level of engagement varied, but I never met someone that was an openly staunch atheist in real life. There is a deep stigma about such a thing in the South, - sadly. There, even extremists like Church of God are nominalized (screaming you’re going to hell for an hour, exorcism/miracle drama nonsense, mobbing behaviors, religious masochism).
It is likely one would need to be second or third generation removed from and religious social support network in a family unit before a person would truly answer atheist on such a poll. I don’t think many people grow to the point of self awareness to care to define an anti religious god certainty at this stage in human cultural evolution.
While I have not lived in the south I do have some deeply religious and conservative family members, so I do see where you’re coming from. I just think even a good chunk of the people you mentioned have an affiliation to fit in and not because they are genuinely religious, i.e. pray regularly and go to church every Sunday. In other words, it’s a cultural thing. They probably wouldn’t go so far as to consider themselves atheist, but I could easily see them considering themselves culturally Christian and non-religious in practice. I have no idea what percentage that actually breaks down to, but my guess is it’s a decent amount lower than 70%.
You’re right. This survey lists 29 % of Americans as “Religiously unaffiliated”. Of those 5 % are Atheists, 6 % Agnostic and 19 % “Nothing in particular”.
There’s kind of a lot of Christians here actually… Or at least apologists.
Depending on who is doing the polling, I’m not answering truthfully. I don’t want proselytizing and I don’t want to risk getting sent to any Aushwitz that they are building. I doubt I am alone.
bullshit there is no way people believe that 34% of the population is lefthanded.
I did a quick check on one of the facts, the christian one, this says 70% in 2022 but i see 62% for 2022, which is a lot closer to the 58% estimate. Makes me feel a bit sketched out about possible cherry picking, but cool notion still.
Everyone here talking about the minority groups when I think the real story is people thinking 1/5 Americans are making $1M/yr.
What are these people smoking? I need some.
92 % of the population lives in either California, new York or Texas?
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If its UK, the only city is London.
It is well known that if you are a being with access to all of time and space in your bigger-on-the-inside ship you will suspiciously hang out a lot in current day London.
It’s kinda funny though, I have six friends I stay in touch with who live in the UK. They’re all in London. No I didn’t meet them there. Coincidence also reinforces confirmation bias. I know believe it is the only city.
What morons did they ask? Holy shit.
I wonder how much of MAGA knows the entire population of illegal immigrants is estimated at a WHOPPING 3% of our population.
How incredible to see the effect of political messaging on citizen/voter perception. It is that the exaggerations, lies, and outrage marketing clearly have an outsized effect. I wouldn’t say the US population is dumb. But I would say the manipulation of perception is too much for the average person to do their own research and come up with unbiased facts.
***To those dismissing this based on inconsistencies between topics, you can’t make those comparisons. There is some blending of data in the methodology that is appropriate in order to look at the range. This is only about the gap between perception and reality, and a stack rank.
The average person is easily manipulated by propaganda. Highly intelligent people who should know better are easily manipulated by propaganda. This is why propaganda is so dangerous and should be tightly controlled.
A great ideal so long as you’re the one in charge of deciding what propaganda is.
Most of Western Europe has severe limits on advertising. They ban things like comparative advertising and don’t even allow advertising for prescription medication.
It is not about deciding what propaganda is allowed, it is about setting up regulations to prevent misinformation.
Our current model in the US is the good will outweigh the bad. That people will be able determine the truth and ignore lies. This is of course poppycock.
Unfortunately propaganda works really well and if you allow misogynists and Nazis to have a mouthpiece their numbers will grow.
Control is not a bad thing, those that push toxic freedom and “free speech” have moved the goalposts so far it is hard to believe. We have been so propagandized to it is hard to separate reality from the lies at times.
The truth is propaganda, misinformation, and public relations are working to sow discontent and manipulate people and it is wrong. We are supposed to protect people, not throw them to the richest wolves who convince them that they should enjoy getting eaten.
I think this bias happens a bit anywhere where there is a limited range to opinion about, may be the interesting part is where is the tilt point, with the corresponding error estimation…
Wouldn’t have guessed you guys would have more vegans than union members
There are companies that make you watch anti union propaganda as part of orientation. They also pay tons of money to bust up any attempts at unionization. The disinformation thats pushed put about unions is baffling. Anything from its communism to the unions steal your money. Its not super surprising to me at this point.
On the flip side all the wealthy actors are union… Says a thing or two…
Hold up.
83% have a driver’s license but 88% have a car?
So 5% of Americans either have a car for the hell of it, or they drive without a license?
And there’s only 3% that are atheists? More people drive without a license than are atheists?
Excuse me?
If these numbers are correct, the US is more fucked than I thought.
Its possible they have lost their licence and still own a car, or the car is just in their name.
I hear you, but 5% seems high for that.
My grandma has a car but she doesn’t drive anymore. Now, if she needs a ride somewhere, I can take her in her own car, since mine is far too low to the ground for her.
30% Jewish, 27% Muslim, 58% Christian, 33% atheist. A very odd mix to estimate.
If giving 110% is good, then giving over 148% is even better.
But I can believe it, it’s not like they asked people to enumerate all at once, they presumably asked one at a time to estimate, and it’s not like they are likely to try to reconcile those guesses with each other even if made in one sitting.
Well only 8% of the population lives outside California, Texas, and NYC.
Only 85% of the population owns a smartphone, I thought for sure it would be higher than that
I sort of get it. There are more boomers and even Gen-X people who are choosing to own a dumb phone just because of the sheer enshittification of the Internet.
I get it.
15% of the population are under 12 and almost 5% are over 80.
ed: actually, it seems like “85%” is just bullshit. Probably closer to 95% Wondering if this might not be a decade+ old chart.
This was a survey given to adults about adults (and likely by adults, too)
Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S. citizens.
On the image:
responses […] to the question “If you had to guess, what percentage of American adults…”
On the link:
representative samples of 1,000 U.S. adult citizens interviewed online from January 14-20, 2022
From the actual survey data in the linked article:
Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S. citizens.
Is there another page? I couldn’t find a link with more info on the survey but every chart says they ask the question specifically about adults. I didn’t look at the “actual percentage” studies but it would be pretty disingenuous to compare their surveys to the percentages of ALL citizens. If that was a bad assumption and they’re actually comparing apples to oranges, please let me know!
And as for the survey respondents - you need to be 16 to make a YouGov account so they definitely weren’t (deliberately) asking children.
It’s literally in the methodology statement for the survey…
Methodology: This article includes findings from two U.S. News surveys conducted by YouGov on two nationally representative samples of 1,000 U.S. adult citizens interviewed online from January 14-20, 2022. The first survey included questions on groups involving race, education, income, family, gender, and sexuality, while the second survey included questions on religion, politics, and other miscellaneous groups. The samples were weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the 2018 American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as 2016 and 2020 Presidential votes (or non-votes). Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S. citizens. Real proportions were taken from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, YouGov’s internal poll results, and the results of other well-established polling firms. Most estimates were collected within the past three years; the oldest is from 2009. Because the real estimates presented cover a range of time periods, they may differ from actual population sizes at the time our survey was conducted.
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80 year olds own smartphones.
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They think almost 25% of people are trans?? Jesus fucking christ
It explains so much when it’s played up so heavily in talk shows, despite the reality always having been very minor. Honestly I didn’t realize me being gay was that much of a minority either. I kind of wish ADHD had been one in the list; if I remember the reality is like no more than 3-5% of the population but people assume it’s over diagnosed as hell and like…not really. Maybe when there was the initial “rush” of sorts for parents during the 90’s because of it seeming to help “unruly” kids, often just meaning imaginative or creative. In my case my parents didn’t even know until my kindergarten teacher told them I should get evaluated, and yep.
Or vice versa, people have that perception because the media and social networks fixate on it so much.
Frequently meaning well, but the attempt to be very inclusive creates for some crazy unrealisitc representations.
neurodivergence is seeing a boom in diagnoses because we now actually fucking diagnose neurodivergence instead of going “yeah the kid’s a retard dump em in the bin”
Oh for sure. It’s still only in that like 5% range but what I meant was folks treat it like it’s new and like…nah.
I hate it. I haven’t run into anyone directly doubting my ADHD at all lately, but as a kid I definitely faced that stigma from some other kids saying it’s “fake”, and I think one of the teachers even said it.
The social media revolution and its consequences…
We had this term “the Information Age.” I think it’s time we coined the term “the misinformation age”, and it’s super appropriate that they are chronologically adjacent. It perfectly illustrates how humanity turns a useful technology into destructive harmful garbage in almost no time just so the greedy can greed.
