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 by 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…
Un campione casuale di 1,207 adulti è stato intervistato in un questionario online nel maggio 2017. Come negli anni passati, gli eventi attuali – come l’abrogazione dell’Obamacare e la potenziale perdita della copertura sanitaria, e il ritiro dall’Accordo sul clima di Parigi – erano su molti menti delle persone.
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.
“Le nostre liste precedenti avevano più a che fare con disastri e criminalità”, ha affermato il sondaggista Christopher Bader, aggiungendo che i dati di quest’anno indicano “grande paura per alcune delle cose che accadono in questa presidenza”.