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.
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%.
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.
It’s a bit like asking me what’s my favourite marvel superhero. It’s not that I don’t like them or don’t think they are important for some people. It’s just not relevant for me.
Right. Except … Spiderman. Always Spiderman.
Atheism is nothing more than a lack of belief in any god.
You’re right. This survey lists 29 % of Americans as “Religiously unaffiliated”. Of those 5 % are Atheists, 6 % Agnostic and 19 % “Nothing in particular”.
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.
There’s kind of a lot of Christians here actually… Or at least apologists.
I wonder how much of MAGA knows the entire population of illegal immigrants is estimated at a WHOPPING 3% of our population.
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.
bullshit there is no way people believe that 34% of the population is lefthanded.
Just like their IQ.
Americans believe a single city (New York) represents 30% of the American population?
Forget that. They think one out of their first 3 friends they have is gay. Assuming they’re straight that means 50% of their friends are gay. Fuck that means they think 25% of their first 4 friends are trans.
Math is not their strong point apparently
TBF if you join random chat groups to meet people you might find abkut that proportion, but not roaming the parks and streets, no.
I was kind of curious if this was close to true in any countries with higher urban population densities and the first one I checked was Japan since it has a rural depopulation issue and Tokyo is a pretty populous city and… it was right on the money. Japan’s pop is ~124 million and Tokyo’s is ~ 37 million. So roughly 30% of Japan’s population lives in one city/metro area. Not that this means anything for US population distribution, but I suppose it’s not THAT crazy to think the numbers could be in that ballpark if you weren’t really thinking about it too hard.
64% of icelanders live in the capital region, which is like two thirds of the US living in maine
Another third lives in all of Texas?
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…
People think 30% of the U.S population lives in New York?
That’s what actually brought me to the comments. The fuck? OK, so now NYC pop is about 10mil, non-NYC NY is about 10 mil, and non-NYC NYC metro is about 10 mil. How do you get even 30 mil to represent 30% of 350mil? Confuse it with the Iranian population of 92mil? And 30% is the average of the responses!
Sometimes you see data and just know that the methodology had to have been shit.
The average response thought 30% of the US was in NY?! No fucking chance.
Maybe the average person is stupid
You can drop the “maybe.”
household income over $X per what period of time?
I somehow don’t find it very plausible that there are many people who believe that 21% of people are transgender, or even 30% gay or lesbian. But I too would have overestimated the number of atheists.
What period of time?
Per year. At least in America if someone asks you how much you make you’ll either give hourly or yearly.
OK, in my country many people think in monthly income because we receive our paychecks monthly.
3% Gay seems very low though. I really think that number is wrong.
they estimated 21% of the population are trans, lol I wish 😂
Yeah that’s bananas. I wonder if people saying 1 in 5 people are trans even know a trans person
If 21% of the population was trans, republicans ain’t winning elections again.
You underestimate the proportion of dumb people. Trans people can also be dumb.
I mean I guess you’re joking, but nevertheless I think it’s a bad thing to hope that every fifth person gets born into a body their mind doesn’t agree with.
eh I’m trans, and now that I’ve transitioned, it’s largely a neutral experience, neither good nor bad, it just is. But in my comment I meant that I think society (broadly) wouldn’t be nearly as transphobic if every 5th person was trans.
the proportion who have at least a high school degree: estimate 65% vs. true 89%
the proportion who have an advanced degree: estimate 37% vs. true 12%
So basically what they guess is ±⅓ has no high school diploma and another ±⅓ has an advanced degree, while in reality ±1/10 doesn’t have a high school diploma and ±1/10 has an advanced degree.
Meaning while in reality 77% does have a high school degree but not an advanced degree, the estimate is that only 28% does.
It seems the real thing this survey shows is most Americans are fucking dumb.
To be fair, the information they have access to suggests a much more diverse situation than reality. So it’s understandable to be reluctant to recognize that any group might dominate the majority so much or that a well recognized minority population is actually so small. You’d have to study up the specific numbers, which are usually less important to keep track of than the relative subjective realitiies associated with each group.
True, but also, how could anyone think 30% of people in the US, a population of nearly 350,000,000, live in New York City. That would dwarf the population of even Tokyo, the most densely populated metropolitan area in the world.
That’s crazy.
As someone who tries to keep the vague number in mind, it would be strange to me as well, but I suspect a large number of people don’t really try to keep even the vague numbers in mind about how many people are about or how many people realistically could reside in a place like NYC.
They track the rough oversimplifications. Like “barely anyone lives in the middle of the country”, and every TV show they see in the US either has a bunch of background people in NYC or LA, or is in the middle of nowhere with a town seemingly made up of mere dozens of people. They might know that “millions” live in the US and also, “millions” live in NYC, so same “ballpark” if they aren’t keeping track of the specifics. They’d probably believe 10 million in NYC and 50 million nationwide.
This is presuming they bother to follow through on the specific math rather than merely roughly throwing out a percentage.
92 % of the population lives in either California, new York or Texas?
Don’t you know? The only city in the USA is either New York or Los Angleas or San Francisco. If its a movie about alien invasion then Washington, DC will also show up.
If its UK, the only city is London.
If its China, the only cities that exist are Beijing or Shanghai.
If its Japan, the only city that exist is Tokyo.
Welcome to Hollywood!
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.
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.
