Hilariously sad public opinion poll results

This will be a lonely thread, but I will bump this whenever I see poll results that demonstrate that a quantifiable chunk of the respondents have no clue what they're talking about. i don't mean polls that show that people don't believe in evolution, so much, but rather polls that show inconsistent logic. like this:

Eighty-three percent of Americans agreed with the statement that climate change was occurring. The question did not specify whether the reason behind the change was largely man-made, said Peter Hoeppe, the head of Munich Re's Geo Risks Research.

A lower number of respondents, about 60 percent, said climate change was driven by human actions.

Seventy-one percent said that increased use of alternative energy like wind and solar would be the most effective approach to combating climate change.

http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2014/12/04/stories/1060009895

so...only 60% say climate change is driven by human actions, but 71% say that increasing wind and solar is the best way to combat climate change. that means that 11% of the respondents don't believe that it's driven by humans but agree that wind and solar is the best way to go. sigh. ok.

anyway, again, lonely thread floating in the digital breeze but i run across things like this every few weeks so we may as well document for the children of the future.

In 1958, only 4% of Americans approved of marriage between blacks and whites. That number stayed below 50% until *1995*. In 2002, 40% of white Americans disapproved of marriage between blacks and whites.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/163697/approve-marriage-blacks-whites.aspx

As experts worry about rising child obesity in France, a new study has revealed that French children have trouble identifying basic fruits and vegetables with some believing that pasta 'grows on trees'.

Eighty-seven percent of kids questioned could not identify a beetroot, while one in three could not put a name to a picture of a courgette or an artichoke. One in five could not name an apricot.

More than half of the kids did not know what a hamburger patty is made out of. About 40 percent could not say where nuggets or ham come from.

http://www.france24.com/en/20130523-france-childhood-obesity-fruits-vegetables-study-beets-courgette-pasta/

tbf those kids are otm re. nuggets. also I doubt 87% of American adults have even tried a beet, let alone be able to identify one

bump this thread whenever a cited poll result teaches you something

*sheepishly cuts down the pasta tree*

i guess all that marinara and cheese i put into the soil around the pasta tree was pretty much a waste too

Ditto the UK, we're right behind you in the unhealthy fat fucks league (xxp)

Spaghetti-tree hoax

ok, this is a hilariously sad presentation of public opinion poll results. jfc this one is terrible.

check out this infographic and ask yourself, which is the most ignorant country on the list?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B4Me7q9IEAAwpbs.jpg

here's the full story and context: from the guardian.

(it's not sweden)

That's a weird study in general. Look at this one. Spain is off by a factor of 2, Japan is off by a factor of 5, but in comparing them they only take account the difference between actual and average guess, not the ratio between them.

http://static.guim.co.uk/ni/1414654834707/Perception_UNEMPLOYED.svg

Hilariously sad public opinion poll results [Started by ya'll are the ones who don't know things (Karl Malone) in December 2014, last updated 2 minutes ago by jmm on I Love Everything] 8 new answers

Ibrahimović vs Rooney [Started by boxall in October 2011, last updated 7 minutes ago by Number None on I Love Football] 1 new answer POLL results

OTM but why does everyone think their unemployment rate is so high? How could the average American think the unemployment rate is 32%?
xpost

because people like to get mad about lazy unemployed types, so naturally they have to exaggerate things.

OK, read the article. Lol that the average Canadian thinks 20% of the country is Muslim and 15% of girls aged 15-19 gave birth in the past year.

Tbf, though, that I don't see actual statistics about those matters on the news all the often. The unemployment rate is a headline at least once a month so people's ignorance about that one seems particularly surprising.

"all that often"

apart from the study, i just thought the infographic i posted was totally weird and misleading. titled "INDEX OF IGNORANCE", with "Sweden 1st" just beneath it, and "ranked by most accurate" to the side.

The teen pregnancy one is good. You wouldn't really have to hear about it on the news to reason out what a plausible figure would be. It would be interesting to ask "What was Canada's birth rate in the last year?" and see if the answer is remotely consistent.

Also, the poll should be about average wrongness, not how wrong the average is. The way it is now, if the average guess is an overestimate, all underestimates, no matter how wild, contribute to making the country less ignorant.

'sweden was most ignorant, according to our measurements, but after that our measurements become gradually less reliable'

?
the article says "Italians were the most ignorant among those polled, while Swedes were the best informed."

I think he's commenting on the "ranked by most accurate" phrasing.

the article doesn't mention the quality of the measurements, though. the ranking is by which country's respondents answered most accurately. sweden's guesses of various demographic stats were closer to the actual numbers than any other countries, and italy's answers were off by the most. guardian just decided to present that ranking and then gave it the title of "INDEX OF IGNORANCE" right above it

At the risk of speaking for others, I think everyone here gets that and is agreeing with you, even pointing out more ways that the Guardian's presentation is unfortunate.

indeed

oh, sorry! i need to stop doing 10 things at once.