48% believe in ESP
37% believe the U.S. made the right decision to invade Iraq
36% are baseball fans
34% believe in ghosts
33% believe in UFOs
31% approve of Bush’s job performance
23% have seen ghosts or been in their presence
19% accept the existence of spells or witchcraft
13% dread walking under a ladder
13% dread the groom seeing his bride before their wedding
(Source: The Guardian)
What Americans Believe
Posted by Joshua Claybourn on 26 October 2007 | 6 responses
(Source: The Guardian)
6 Responses to “What Americans Believe”
Hey, Bush is up to 35% since the article came out
And Congress is still trailing, at 25%.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,305156,00.html
I’ve always hated Congressional approval ratings, as it’s not an appropriate comparison to the presidential approval rating.
I’d much rather see the survey ask if they approve of the job their individual senator or representative is doing; I’d bet that the result would be significantly higher.
Congressional approval ratings certainly are more complex than Presidential approval. They definitely can’t be used as a proxy for approval of the party which controls Congress. Rarely if ever do you see party approval ratings publicized. The Fox News poll Alan cites didn’t even ask about that.
34% believe in ghosts
Way too low. For example, 80% of the US public identifies itself as Christian and the core of Christian theology is, of course, the theology of the Holy Ghost.
Since religion is, by definition, a belief in the supernatural — i.e. belief in ghosts — and since only 10% of the US population declare no religious beliefs, I’d say that the number who believe in ghosts is 90, not 34, percent.
I think they mean “ghosts” as in spirits of the dead lingering in the realm of the living.
I think they mean “ghosts” as in spirits of the dead lingering in the realm of the living.
Jesus, who died on the cross, isn’t watching me, right now, as I type?