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

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 takyon on Sunday October 16 2016, @09:39PM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Sunday October 16 2016, @09:39PM (#414962) Journal

    "Strangers" is one heck of a select group.

    Another way to look at how the atheists scored: they are 83.6% as mistrusted as MUSLIMS in America. Yet when atheists complain about the situation, they'll be dismissed as militant or euphoric fedora-tippers.

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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by FatPhil on Sunday October 16 2016, @10:38PM

    by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Sunday October 16 2016, @10:38PM (#414998) Homepage
    > Yet when atheists complain about the situation, they'll be dismissed as ...

    Communists

    Which was a remarkably noticeable statistic, noticeable through its absence.

    In the groups-of-people feared breakdown, where were the fear of gays, feminists, pacifists, intellectuals, and even foreigners - so much was left unlisted that could have given great insight into the US hive mind.

    Note, however, that at 1511 people, this study was *TINY*. Even if performed perfectly, its error bars were pretty sizeable. (A 3% swing from 2014 may be nothing but noise.)
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2016, @02:44AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2016, @02:44AM (#415064)

    The administration has had over and over again ample evidence to step in and prevent these terror attacks, but the consequence of a willful blindness of a policy that is a matter of administration policy refuses to acknowledge the threat means, over and over again, this administration has allowed the threats to go forward. We cannot combat and defeat radical atheist terrorism without acknowledging it exists and directing our resources to stopping it. An Orwellian doublethink that seeks to excerpt any reference to it, as the administration has done to the president of France, is counterproductive to keeping this country safe.