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As time goes on, I think there are two surveys which provide the most valuable insight into the voters of Brexit Britain and Trump’s America.
The first, from 2021:
What wild animals do you think you can beat in a fight?
As a follow-up infographic, the US survey showed the answers provided by men and women.
While there was a gap (particularly on the question of fighting a goose) the trends remained disturbingly stable.
God bless and save you, 8% of Americans who think they can defeat an elephant in a fist fight.
The second survey I think about when I try to understand our neighbours to the West is also from YouGov, in 2019.
It asked 1,732 men and women a simple question:
“Do you think if you were playing your very best tennis, you could win a point off Serena Williams?"
12% of men (and 3% of women) said they thought they could.
Taken together, this does suggest that there are 4% of American men who believe they could win a fistfight with an adult wolf but who also acknowledge they will not win a tennis point against Serena Williams.
In a way, I admire those 4% of men. (And hope they continue to never encounter a wolf).
These were novelty topic surveys, intended to get the name YouGov said in print and on-air.
And yet I think they accidentally revealed something about the cultures which standard political surveys never get at.
Significant parts of the voting public in the US are completely detached from reality, and hold levels of confidence in their own place in the world completely at variance with fact.
This is significantly more pronounced among men.
@Tupp_ed I want to know about the 24% of Americans who think they'd lose against a rat.
@anaxamaxan I think the balance of survey takers have not encountered a fighting rat.