Sunday, October 30, 2016

More Americans are scared of clowns than terrorism and dying... but the top fear is a corrupt government

More Americans are scared of clowns than terrorism and dying... but the top fear is a corrupt government | Daily Mail Online:
"More Americans are scared of clowns than terrorism and dying... but the top fear is a corrupt government
  • Polls conducted by Chapman University and Morning Consult find that corrupt government frightens the greatest number of Americans 
  • Surprisingly, clowns stoked more fear than terrorism 
  • Also high on the list of fears were infringement of gun rights and economic collapse 
More Americans are afraid of clowns than of climate change, terrorism, and dying.
More Americans are afraid of clowns than they are of terrorism and climate change, two new surveys found. Above is a 1970s stock portrait of two smiling clownsTwo polls which surveyed Americans also found that the greatest fear among Americans is corrupt government.
The polls were conducted by Chapman University and Vox / Morning Consult.
The Chapman survey found that 42 per cent of respondents said that they were scared of clowns, compared to just 32 per cent who said they were frightened by climate change.
The poll ranked the fears which included terror attacks (41 per cent), infringement of gun rights (38 per cent), death of a loved one (38 per cent), economic collapse (37 per cent), Obamacare (37 per centlogical warfare (35 per cent).

More Americans are afraid of clowns than they are of terrorism and climate change, two new surveys found...
Fear of clowns was second most prevalent, with 42 per cent saying that they were afraid of them.
Terrorism came in third place, with just 41 per cent saying that they were frightened by the prospect of an attack...
Obamacare proved scarier than biological warfare (35 per cent) and climate change (32 per cent).
Slightly less than one in four Americans said they were scared of heights (24 per cent), and less than one in five (19 per cent) said they were afraid of dying.
The survey results reflect a growing panic over clowns that has gripped the country over the past few weeks.

Percentage of Americans report being afraid of... 

Corrupt government - 61 per cent
Clowns - 42 per cent
Terrorist attack - 41 per cent
Gun rights infringement - 38 per cent
Family members dying - 38 per cent
Economic collapse - 37 per cent
Obamacare - 36 per cent
Biological warfare - 35 per cent
Climate change - 32 per cent
Heights - 24 per cent
Dying - 19 per cent
Needles - 17 per cent
Spousal cheating - 10 per cent
Ghosts - 9 per cent 
The hysteria over clowns has even led a number of local townships and municipalities to ban clown costumes because they’ve been deemed ‘too scary.’
The wave of coulrophobia – the medical term for an irrational fear of clowns – sweeping the United States can most likely be traced to an incident that was reported in Greenville, South Carolina, in late August.
Parents at an apartment complex there went into a panic after they heard reports of a clown trying to lure children in the woods.
Management at the Fleetwood Manor Apartments in Greenville issued a warning to parents, saying they had received numerous complaints about a 'clown or a person dressed in clown clothing taking children or trying to lure children [into] the woods'...

2 comments:

Richard I. Garber said...

Actually the Daily Mail is full of crap, and you're repeating it here. Go look up the Chapman blog post titled America's Top Fears 2016, and you will find they listed clowns at just 7.8% - 78th out of 79 fears. VOX got that outrageous 42% by addidnd results for three categories rather than the top two that Chapman used. For a discussion see my October 25th Joyful Public speaking blog post titled Are Americans really more afraid of clowns than climate change, terrorism, and death?

Richard

Jim Riley said...

Great correction.
I suspected this to be an exaggeration, but sorta wanted to highlight the idiocy of how it was being publicized.
Thanks for your comment.
Your blog: http://joyfulpublicspeaking.blogspot.com/