Nearly three-fourths of Americans do believe in something paranormal. 48 percent fear “global warming”.
What do Americans fear most? Chapman University releases 4th annual Survey of American Fears
Chapman University recently completed its fourth annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears (2017). The survey asked respondents about 80 different fears across a broad range of categories including fears about the government, the environment, terrorism, health, natural disasters, and finances, as well as fears of public speaking, spiders, heights, ghosts and many other personal anxieties.
In addition to the set of fears examined in previous waves, the survey team took a closer look at one particular fear-related phenomena: fear of extremism.
In its fourth year, the annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears included more than 1,207 adult participants from across the nation and all walks of life that is a direct slice of the American population according to census data. The 2017 survey data is organized into four basic categories: personal fears, natural disasters, paranormal fears, and fear of extremism.
The 2017 survey shows that the top 10 things Americans fear the most are:
1) Corruption of government officials (same top fear as 2015 and 2016)
2) American Healthcare Act/Trumpcare (new fear)
3) Pollution of oceans, rivers and lakes (new in top 10)
4) Pollution of drinking water (new in top 10)
5) Not having enough money in the future
6) High medical bills
7) The U.S. will be involved in another world war (new fear)
8) Global warming and climate change
9) North Korea using weapons (new fear)
10) Air pollution
“The 2017 survey data shows us that while some of the top fears have remained, there has also been a pronounced shift to environmental fears,” said Christopher Bader, Ph.D., professor of sociology at Chapman University, who led the team effort. “We are beginning to see trends that people tend to fear what they are exposed to in the media. Many of the top 10 fears this year can be directly correlated to the top media stories of the past year.”
Environmental Quality Ranks among Americans’ Top Fears
Most striking about American fear in 2017 is that environmental fears figure more prominently than ever before. Environmental issues never cracked the top ten fears in previous surveys. Water pollution ranks third overall, followed closely by drinking water quality.
Water Pollution
- A majority of Americans [53.1 percent] fear pollution of “oceans, rivers and streams.”
The fact that water pollution has become such a prominent fear in 2017 may be traced to the reversal of environmental policies of the Obama Administration.
Drinking Water Quality
- 50.4 percent fear for the quality of their drinking water. This could be linked to the prominent news coverage of lead poisoning in the drinking water of Flint, Michigan, during the past year.
Climate Change and Air Pollution
- Americans fear climate change [48 percent] and air pollution [44.9 percent]. These are the eighth and tenth greatest fears, respectively.The sharp rise in the number of Americans who now say they fear climate change (and air pollution, which contributes to climate change) may be linked to President Trump’s controversial decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord.
Fear of Extremism and the Threat to National Security
Americans believe that both Islamic Extremists and White Supremacists represent a threat to national security. Three out of five Americans report they are very afraid or afraid that Islamic Extremists/Jihadists are a threat to national security. After Islamic Extremists/Jihadists, White Supremacists are the only group that a majority of Americans view as a threat to national security (51 percent).
While other types of extremist groups are a concern to large groups of Americans, only those two were identified by a majority of survey respondents. Roughly one-third of Americans identify the following four as threats: Extreme Anti-Immigration groups, the Militia/Patriot Movement, Left-Wing Revolutionaries, and Extreme Anti-Abortion groups. One in five Americans is afraid Extreme Environmentalists are a threat. “Although the trend isn’t perfect, as a general rule, Americans are more afraid of extremist groups that have been discussed in the media,” said Ed Day, Ph.D., chair of Chapman’s sociology department. “Further, differences between various factions across America on which group represents the greatest threat reflects the political divisions we see in America on other issues.”
This fear affects the daily lives of Americans and even leads some to question the value of American freedom?29 percent of Americans report being very afraid or afraid of being a victim of hate crime. One-third agree or strongly agree with the statement, “In order to curb terrorism in this country, it will be necessary to give up some civil liberties.” Even more, 35 percent, disagree or strongly disagree with the statement, “We should preserve our freedoms even if it increases the risk of terrorism.” As has been seen before, elevated fears over national security can lead to lower support for national values.
America’s Knowledge of Disaster Preparedness Outdated, Dangerous
The survey asked Americans about fears of man-made disasters, such as a nuclear melt-down, and nuclear and terror attacks, as well as natural disasters. The survey then asked about their familiarity with safety and preparedness advice/slogans propagated by ready.gov and emergency.cdc.gov
Nuclear Fears
- Nearly half of all Americans [48 percent] fear North Korea using nuclear weapons and 41 percent fear a nuclear attack generally. The prospect of a nuclear meltdown has made 31 percent afraid or very afraid.
“The survey also showed that it’s the obsolete, even dangerous, cold war slogan “Duck and Cover” that is familiar to 70 percent of all Americans, said Ann Gordon, Ph.D., director of Chapman University’s Henley Lab. “Americans need to unlearn ‘Duck and Cover’ and replace it with ‘Get inside. Stay Inside. Stay Tuned’.”
Terrorism and Mass Shooting Fears
- 48 percent fear being the victim of terrorism and 44 percent fear a terror attack in general.
The majority of Americans, 82 percent are familiar with the slogan, “If you see something, say something.” However, most Americans are unaware of what constitutes suspicious behavior that should be reported. The fear of being the victim of a mass or random shooting is on the minds of 31 percent, and 35 percent report being familiar with the advice to “Run. Hide. Fight,” which is the recommended preparedness slogan for a mass or random shooting.
Natural disasters
- Americans fear many natural disasters and 68 percent believe natural disasters are capable of harming them or their property. Only 38 percent of Americans have heard the advice, “Don’t wait. Communicate. Make your emergency plan today.” Less than half, 41 percent (up from 32 percent in 2016), actually have an emergency plan in place for their households and 26 percent have such a plan for their pets.
“Whether they’re afraid of an attack by North Korea, a pandemic (which 36 percent of Americans fear), or a natural disaster, Americans just aren’t prepared,” says Dr. Gordon. “Sheltering in place requires some preparation, such as food water, and medicine. Only 34 percent of Americans have such preparations, although 45 percent say they are familiar with the advice to “Prepare. Plan. Stay informed.” And in any disaster a battery powered radio is essential to staying informed. This would be a great step towards preparedness for American households.”
Paranormal America 2017
The 2017 Chapman University Survey of American Fears includes a battery of items on paranormal beliefs. Currently the most common paranormal belief in the United States is that ancient, advanced civilizations, such as Atlantis once exited with more than half of respondents (55 percent) agreeing or strongly agreeing with this statement. Slightly more than half (52 percent) believe that places can be haunted by spirits. More than a third (35 percent) believe that that aliens visited Earth in our ancient past and more than a fourth believe aliens have come to Earth in modern times (26 percent). Americans are the most skeptical about Bigfoot, with only 16 percent of Americans expressing belief in its existence.
“The survey shows that paranormal beliefs are quite common in the United States by examining how many such beliefs a person holds,” said Dr. Bader. “Using the seven paranormal items included on the survey, we find that only a fourth of Americans (25.3 percent) do not hold any of these seven beliefs. However, this means that nearly three-fourths of Americans do believe in something paranormal.“
The survey also looked at the personal characteristics that are significantly associated with higher levels of paranormal belief. Simply put, the person with the highest number of paranormal beliefs in the United States as of 2017 will tend to be a lower income, female living in a rural area in the Western states. She tends to be politically conservative and claims to be highly religious, although she actually attends religious services infrequently. She is either currently single or cohabitating with someone and reports her race as “other.”
Methodology
The CSAF was conducted online via the SSRS Probability Panel among adults age 18 and older who participated via the web on PC, laptop, tablet or mobile phone. It included 1,207 participants and data collection was conducted from June 28 to July 7, 2017. The SSRS Panel members are recruited randomly from a dual-frame random digit dial (RDD) sample, through the SSRS Omnibus Survey. The SSRS Omnibus survey is a national (50-state), bilingual telephone survey. The sample used for the Chapman University Survey of American Fears mirrors the demographic characteristics of the U.S. Census. For additional methodological details, see the full report.
###
A comprehensive list of the all the fears from The Chapman Survey on American Fears 2017 can be found http://www.chapman.edu/fearsurvey. In addition to Bader, Day and Gordon, student involvement was key in helping throughout the process.
Most here seem to have missed a central point “people tend to fear what they are exposed to in the media.” No one fears a threat that they are not aware of, but most fear the unknown or the unknowable. Without the media, very few would have noticed a changing climate. What was an insignificant change has been spun into a catastrophic (or even existential) threat, that may occur some time in an unknown and unknowable future. Somehow, much more predictable, more current, and more serious threats are diminished.
Bullseye.
Rate you worst fear in order.
A) Global Warming
B) Climate Change
C) Catastrophic Global Warming
D) Catastrophic Climate Change
E) All of the Above
Now rate your real fears without media and advocacy manipulation and government “nudging”.
I’m just terrified it’s worse than we thought.
If only we had a longitudinal survey to show the media and advocacy influence over time from fear of nuclear winter, acid rain, and save the whales.
The group that sets the time on the “Dooms Day Clock” get my vote as the most neurotically fearful bunch on the planet.
I think we saved the whales? didn’t we?
and by concerted action largely stopped acid rain?
Some people fear pants, which is known as pantophobia.
Fortunately, the Scots (clever folk) have invented the perfect solution to pantophobia; the kilt.
what’s the word of fear of kilts though?
Because frankly a Scotsman in a kilt is a fearsome thing…
So the situation is normal… When the facts don’t support the warmist position, they ignore/change the facts.
It appears, from the little “symbols” above the bars in the graph that the people surveyed were given several different categories of “fears” (governmental, environmentsl, nuclear etc) and Im assuming a list of choices to choose from within those categories, or some instruction to rank them.
Saying that ones top concerns IN THE AREA of “environment ” DOES NOT automatically convert to “top overall fears”. If that’s what the authors did…its very unscientific, and logically flawed. (As well as being incredibly deceptive if done on purpose)
That’s thinking critically.
“… advanced civilizations, such as Atlantis once exited …” [my bold]
I fear exiting sooner than expected.
I’m starting to fear existing.
It isn’t safe!
What the general public are or are not worried about is directly dependent on what the fake news pushes or hides, as opposed to what is or is not a risk in reality.
Climate change, the warming kind, should not even be on the list of risks.
When there is a significant actual crisis in progress, the public’s number one worry will be the new crisis, rather than future possible risks.
It is ridiculous, surreal, that we are living ‘in the riskiest moment of our lives’ and the risk in question (unintentional consequences of the super financial bubble which the politicians and central banks have created by year after year of deficits and quantitative easing, QE is the name for when the government(s) creates electronic money to enable the government to buy government bonds in the market, to reduce interest rates in the market) is not even on the list of risks.
The nature of the financial bubble risk, is everything appears fine, until interest rates start to rise and it is not.
Nobel prize in economics awarded to Richard Thaler, October 9, 2017
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nobel-prize-winner-richard-thaler-says-this-could-be-the-riskiest-moment-of-our-lives-2017-10-10?mod=MW_story_top_stories
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bill-gross-warns-us-market-risk-highest-since-2008-crisis-2017-06-07
‘One-third agree or strongly agree with the statement, “In order to curb terrorism in this country, it will be necessary to give up some civil liberties.” ‘
The one-third who agree with that statement have little understanding of government incompetence. Contrary to what was largely communicated to us the US government was aware of the possibility of a Sept. 11th 2001 style attack 6 years before it ever happened. The mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Ramzi Yousef, escaped that night of the bombing and wound his way to Manila. He lived there with Khalid Sheik Mohammed (the mastermind of Sept. 11th) and Hakim Murad (may be wrong name). Yousef, mixing chemicals for a bomb, accidentally started a fire in the apartment. He and KSM fled the apt., leaving Murad to retrieve their belongings. That led to Murad’s arrest and interrogation. Murad had an airline pilot’s license from the UAE. From the interrogation of Murad, and the info retrieved from Yousef’s computer hard drive, retrieved from the apartment, the FBI learned that terrorists had conceived of the idea of slamming jetliners into buildings. That was in 1995.
Then, in the months leading up to Sept. 11th, six years later, that very same FBI received info from its field agents that young Arab males were learning on flight simulators. Moreover, one of those trainees would be arrested days prior to the 11th, yet the FBI neglected to examine his computer hard drive. Additionally, one of the hijackers who entered the US was on the terrorist watch list when he did so.
The failure of the government to perform its most fundamental function was not because the multiplicity of agencies did not communicate with one another (the FBI, alone, had all the info needed), not because those agencies had inadequate power, not because of inadequate surveillance. It was nothing other than a bureaucratic failure.
Yet, no one lost their jobs. Instead, the agencies’ utter failure was rewarded with even more surveillance authority and greater budgets.
And what did it get used for. To tap the communications of potentially hostile reporters and the AP? And, maybe Congressmen?
Just think what might not have happened 16 years ago if that ‘straight shooter’ Mueller had convened 15+ top prosecutors to investigate the info the FBI and ICE already had back then with the same vigor (early dawn, no-knock, unlimited search warrants) he’s now investigating a ‘possibility’ that began with a urination allegation.
Ultimately, Mueller style political witch hunts are what giving up civil liberties will be about. (The FBI searched the entirety of Manafort’s condo with a warrant that did not describe specific things to be seized – but couldn’t be troubled to quickly obtain a warrant to merely examine the 20th hijackers’ computer days before Sept. 11th.)
We see this sort of thing continually with responsibilities that governments assume. Usually not nearly so critical. The public seems to think that many jobs are too important not to be in the hands of government, yet government is repeatedly the agent that demonstrates the least accountability and capability.
Any private person or enterprise which failed so egregiously to meet its responsibilities would be bankrupted and sued into oblivion. Government carries on with total impunity, collectively as well as at the level of the responsible individuals.
It is disgusting.
Climatophobia: “Irrational fear of temperature increase,… C02,… and the delusions of the crowd”…. also interacts with “group-think”,.. and may cause bullying, trolling,… condescension,..self-rightiousness and smugness. The malady is particularly seen in adolescence and early adulthood,… accompanied by a allergic reaction to empirical data,… critical thinking and a sense of longitudinal historical perspective. The phobia is often accompanied by Progressive world view and a strong reflexive instinct to defer to authority and authoritarianism. Treatment — none. Only a complete reboot of the intellectual orientation and installation of critical introspection have been successful. Occasional “climate fraud” expose’ has also been helpful in correcting the malady in some individuals.
Once again:
Science is about knowledge not belief.
Scio – I know.
Credo – I believe.
Consensus is about politics not science.
When Climate Science got taken over by politicians it stopped being science.
People SHOULD BE afraid of idiot politicians having control of the power grid, which has driven up costs and reduced grid reliability.
I suggest that more industries and households will go off-grid in the future, NOT with so-called “green energy” schemes but with their own natural-gas powered generators.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/05/02/tesla-announces-low-cost-batteries-for-off-grid-homes/#comment-1927557
My main point is that electricity from the electrical grid has been made much more expensive (and less reliable) by foolish grid-connected green energy schemes and by excessive administrative and distribution costs. Getting off-grid will, I suggest, become the best way to overcome this politically-driven excessive increase in energy costs.
Regards, Allan
Renewables have certainly not caused any grid instability.
As I never tire of pointing out, Germany with 35% renewable electricity -and sometimes days with as much as 85% renewable electricity – has the world’s most reliable grid. And note it exports more to France than it receives and no, it is not propped up by power from Poland.
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/05/08/germany-breaks-solar-record-gets-85-electricity-renewables/
Griffy
Have you noticed a lot of your comments get COMPLETELY ignored? Trolls die without attention-oxygen.
You really need to step up (ok, in your case, step down) your game to incite the laughter and derision to which you are entitled.
Just saying…
I don’t mind: people may still be reading them.
and it is worth it for the occasional genuine exchange of views.
did you have any facts to offer contrary to any of my posts?
Allen, that is really a stupid idea.
We are often off grid living in our motor home. Our current motor has a very expensive Onan propane propane generator plus we have a cheap two stoke pull start gasoline generator.
To start with, retail fuel cost make producing your own power much more than expensive retail electricity.
The next issue is noise and safety. It is better to have those issues a few miles away at the power plant.
I think Allen is also wrong. Thanks to the work of smart people, some of them politicians, power cost are going down and reliability of the grid is improving not that it was ever unreliable.
Allen is making things up. Why he thinks he could do it better is only a indication of his lack of experience. It would take 4 to 6 generators and weekly testing to improve reliability.
Then there is maintenance. My Onan generator is coming due for an overhaul. It has also become unreliable. I suspect a heat related problem with the circuit board in the electronic voltage regulator. For me to replace the part would cost $300. To have it done would cost $1000.
So on one hand you have cheap and very, very, very, very reliable power delivered to your house. On the other hand you have expensive, unreliable, dangerous, and noise.
Maybe Allen should not make suggestions based on reading something on the internet.
Kit:
You sound very confused and not at all up-to-date. Natural gas is much cheaper than the fuels you use.
Check the date of my post – 2015 – I have been looking into this issue for several years. New home-scale generating equipment is coming out all the time, and it is quiet, inexpensive and is reliable.
Electricity here costs about 2-4 cents/KWh to generate but four times that after transmission, distribution and admin charges. Reliability is going down as more non-dispatchable intermittent “green”power is added to the grid.
In the latter part of your post you seem to be talking about Griff, not me.
Well Allan 7 UK car manufacturing plants have extensive solar panel installations. why is that? It fixes part of their energy costs.
A better alternative than a natural gas generator might well be a fuel cell (perhaps that’s what you meant by natural gas generator)
The key is the fuel – hydrogen is not a good fuel due to difficulty of manufacture and low energy density.
Natural gas (methane) is a much better fuel than hydrogen.
Fuel cells that run on methane are now a reality.
Better generators are being introduced all the time that run on methane. These include reciprocating engines and turbines suitable for small applications.
Home-scale electric power generation takes the idiot politicians out of the equation, which may be increasingly desirable as they continue to reduce grid reliability and drive up costs with their foolish “green energy”schemes.
Griff wrote:
“Well Allan 7 UK car manufacturing plants have extensive solar panel installations. why is that? It fixes part of their energy costs.”
Griff, you appear to know something about the UK. One notable fact is is often cloudy and solar does not work well there due to intermittency.
Idiot politicians have rigged the system through subsidies and preferential feed-in rules such that intermittent (and essentially worthless) wind and solar power are artificially encouraged at the expense of reliable, dispatchable conventional power.
It takes a true fraudster or an imbecile to implement such dysfunctional rules, but these policies are now common practices across the developed world.
They got one thing right: a fear of corruption at the top.
Global Warming Industry can’t survive without corruption of Government.
Climate alarmist math:
53% Pollution of oceans, rivers and lakes
+
50% Pollution of drinking water
+
48% Global warming and climate change
+
45% Air pollution
———————————————————
196% demand action on climate change
Personally, I fear large groups of easily frightened stupid people. They tend to cause all the other problems.
yes. MIB had the best line on that topic.
A few years ago when NASA was promoting their latest get big on space studies revival show, they were sending out young energetic recently graduated ingenues to try to whip up excitement. One came to speak at our business. During Q/A at the end she began with the comment, “Wow! when I was growing up i expected we would have flying cars by now.”
An engineer quipped from the group, “Young lady, most people cannot navigate in 2 dimensions. We thought it unwise to give them 3.”
The big problem with all of this climate change business is that, based on paleoclimate evidence and modling results, the climate change we have been experiencing is caused by the sun and the oceans over which mankind has no control. There is no real evidence that CO2 has any effect on climate and plenty of scientific rational to support the idea that the climate sensivity of CO2 is zero. AGW is a conjecture full of holes. The AGW conjecture is based upon a radiant greenhouse effect that has not been observed anywhere in the solar system including the Earth. The radiant greenhouse effect is sceince fiction. Hence the AGW conjecture is sceince fiction. If CO2 really affected climate then the increase in CO2 over the past 30 years should have caused at least a measureable increase in the dry lapse rate in the troposphere but such has not happened. There are many good reasons to be conserving on the use of fossil fuels but climate change is not one of them.
The sun? What could that do? It isn’t even around half the time!
Do I really need to add the sarc tag? I know it’s pretty much what the AGW crowd actually believes. It just sounds so ridiculous when you say it out loud.
Amazing. Americans have the best environmental conditions in my lifetime of 75 years, and are that concerned about the environment. Bugga bugga bugga works, I guess.
48% of Americans fear global warming. 48% of Americans believe in UFO. I bet they are the same people
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/11/48-percent-of-americans-believe-in-ufos_n_3900669.html
I bet they don’t have a clue.
My biggest fear is of people who want to save the world.
I guess wildfires didn’t make the list.
Smoke and haze from wildfires hovers over the skyline in San Francisco on Thursday.