The American Fear Survey found that corruption of government officials is the top fear for Americans for the third year in a row, followed by the American Healthcare Act and pollution in the nation’s oceans, rivers, and lakes. The survey of 1,207 adults also found that current events such as the repeal of Obamacare and the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord were on people’s minds. Other fears in the top 10 included pollution of drinking water, family finances, high medical bills, another world war, climate change, North Korea’s nuclear weapons, and air pollution. The survey suggests “great fear about some of the things happening in this presidency.”
In 2014, three Chapman University sociologists launched the American Fear Survey in order to find out how Americans viewed crime, in comparison to a litany of other typical fears. The list of 80 fears included a diverse range of phobias (and more rational fears) including spiders, snakes, heights, zombies, clowns, terrorism, nuclear weapons, and the death of a loved one. Surprisingly, for the third year in a row, corruption of government officials has topped the list of fears, mentioned 74.5 percent of the respondents. And in 2017, the other two fears topping the list were the American Healthcare Act (55.3 percent) and fear of pollution in the nation’s oceans, rivers and lakes (53.2 percent).
Nothing to fear but…
A random sample of 1,207 adults was interviewed in an online questionnaire in May 2017. As in past years, current events – such as the repeal of Obamacare and the potential loss of health coverage, and the withdrawal from the Climate Accord of Paris – they were on many people’s minds.
The rest of the Top 10: pollution of drinking water, fear related to family finances, high medical bills, another world war, climate change, North Korea’s nuclear weapons, and air pollution.
“Our previous lists had more to do with disasters and crime,” said pollster Christopher Bader, adding that this year’s data points to “great fear about some of the things happening in this presidency.”
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
