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Annual Survey of American Fears Released -- 2016 Edition

posted by martyb on Sunday October 16 2016, @08:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the The-only-thing-we-have-to-fear-is... dept.

AnonTechie writes:

Chapman University recently completed its third annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears (2016). The survey asked respondents about 65 fears across a broad range of categories including fears about the government, crime, the environment, the future, technology, health, natural disasters, 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 two fear related phenomena: Americans' beliefs in conspiracy theories and fear of Muslims, sometimes referred to as "Islamophobia."

In its third year, the annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears included more than 1,500 adult participants from across the nation and all walks of life. The 2016 survey data is organized into five basic categories: personal fears, conspiracy theories, terrorism, natural disasters, paranormal fears, and fear of Muslims.

The 2016 survey shows that the top 10 things Americans fear the most are:

  • Corruption of government officials (same top fear as 2015)
  • Terrorist attacks
  • Not having enough money for the future
  • Being a victim of terror
  • Government restrictions on firearms and ammunition (new)
  • People I love dying
  • Economic or financial collapse
  • Identity theft
  • People I love becoming seriously ill
  • The Affordable Health Care Act/"Obamacare"

http://phys.org/news/2016-10-americans-annual-survey-american.html

A comprehensive list of the all the fears is available from The Chapman Survey on American Fears 2016.

A video is also available at: https://youtu.be/Rr0XAFbe8b8

Previously:
What Americans Fear Most (2014)

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by tonyPick on Monday October 17 2016, @06:45AM

    by tonyPick (1237) on Monday October 17 2016, @06:45AM (#415121) Homepage Journal

    It's an interesting idea, and IMO the level of distrust/belief in corruption also ties up with the conspiracy theories section of the survey - to quote:

    more than half of all Americans believe the government is concealing information about the 9/11 attacks; as well as the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Another 40 percent believe the government is hiding information about extra-terrestrials and global warming; and one-third believe there are conspiracies surrounding Obama's birth certificate and the origin of the AIDs virus. Nearly one-fourth of Americans also believe there is something suspicious about the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

    "We found clear evidence that the United States is a strongly conspiratorial society," said Dr. Bader. "We see a degree of paranoia in the responses. Most indicative is nearly one-third of respondents believed the government is concealing information about 'the North Dakota crash,' a theory we asked about that - to our knowledge - we made up," Dr. Bader continued.

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