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A shocking new study reveals a dramatic difference between what Americans claim to believe publicly about important issues and how they actually feel when discussing polarizing political topics in private. It shows that there is a difference.
Populous, a Massachusetts-based think tank focused on understanding people’s personal views and values rather than what they say publicly, recently launched its first Social Pressure Index. Announced. The survey results show that Americans do not trust the government or the media and are hesitant to publicly admit their true feelings on a variety of important issues. This is especially true with the presidential election looming, as many Americans feel pressured to support certain candidates or issues publicly, but do not necessarily vote that way in private. potentially important.
“It’s going to be really interesting to see what happens on election night. And I think people are going to be surprised, not just about the presidential election, but also about the voting efforts and things like that that happen. ” I also want to say. “It’s very different from what public opinion suggests,” Populous CEO Todd Rose told FOX News Digital.
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Todd Rose, CEO of Populous, said that while many Americans feel pressured to support a particular candidate or issue in public, they don’t necessarily vote that way in private. (Photographer: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Rose said polls are “not a bad thing,” but they are flawed because Americans are not honest about their personal opinions.
“Polls assume you’re telling the truth, and we’re not,” Rose said, noting that in 2016, when former President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, pollsters He pointed out that he started a private opinion poll after surprising the public.
According to the study, a staggering 61% of Americans admit to voluntarily silencing their true beliefs, and 58% of Americans say that even if they believe they are right, they rarely believe that people cannot share honest opinions on sensitive topics.
Rose said the Social Pressure Index is the largest private poll ever conducted, and it measures society’s pressure to have the “right” opinion and how that pressure translates into what Americans want to say out loud. He said he was aware of the impact it was having on the He said the survey covered 64 of the most controversial issues in American society and included a large sample of more than 19,000 respondents and more than 20 demographic groups.
“Across these 64 issues, every demographic group in this country lies blatantly on multiple issues to the point where what they collectively say publicly and what they personally believe is inconsistent,” Rose said. he said.
Rose said it was “horrifying” that some of the public dishonesty could lead to policy repercussions.
For example, he noted that while “defunding the police” appeared to be supported by a majority of Democrats for some time, only 3% of Democrats privately supported it. He pointed out that research has shown that this is the case.
“If I had known it was only 3%, I don’t think I would have gone down some of the paths in Seattle and other things. And we’re seeing similar things now. For example. “Americans are writing loudly. In public they say they think unions are good for the economy, but in private they don’t,” Rose said.
Former President Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 surprised many pollsters. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“The good news is this: You can look past what we say publicly to find out what we privately believe. I was shocked,” Rose continued. “On two-thirds of these issues, almost every demographic in the country agrees and is on the same side.”
Rose found it “funny” that at a time when the country feels so divided, so many Americans agree, at least privately, on important issues.
“What excites me most is not just that we agree, but what we agree on. We talk about college admissions, hiring decisions, promotion decisions, who wins. “There’s an incredibly personal preference in America for meritocracy, whether you’re a member of the C-suite or how you treat different groups,” Rose said.
“Three-quarters of Americans across all demographics would rather live in a meritocracy than what we’re doing these days,” he continued. “And I think this is really good news for the future of this country.”
But it wasn’t all sunshine, with many respondents deeply concerned about the economy.
“One of the things we found across a variety of issues was a deep-seated pessimism about the economy and the direction of the country,” Rose said.
The survey found that Democrats are the most likely to privately suggest that the economy is thriving.
“Consistently, more than three in four Americans say the economy is in bad shape. And we asked them in a variety of ways. We asked them about their current personal finances. We asked about the current state of the economy. We asked in various ways whether the state of the economy is better or worse than it was five years ago.” Rise said.
“There’s no doubt that most people know privately that the economy isn’t doing very well. Of course, the only group that privately says otherwise is registered Democrats,” he said. continued. “They’re pretty consistent in saying, ‘I think the economy is great.'”
CNN survey finds that Democratic-leaning children are five times more likely to say they would not go to the home of a Trump supporter.
Populous CEO Todd Rose said the Social Pressure Index revealed “deep-seated pessimism about the direction of the economy and the country.” (Photographer: Oliver Contreras/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Rose said many Democrats who claim the economy is thriving under the Biden-Harris administration admit that their personal finances are “not in much better shape.”
“When asked if this country is headed in the wrong direction, an overwhelming majority of Americans across all demographics agree that things are not good for this country,” Rose said. .
Another thing that surprised Rose was how Americans felt about the system as a whole.
“So when it comes to the government, we all know that there is a lot of mistrust in the government, even in public. And that’s it.” It’s kind of a low bar, right? It’s not like we’re going to do everything right, but personally speaking, only 4% of Americans trust the government to tell the truth,” Rose said.
“What’s really interesting is that in public, Democrats are the most likely to say they trust the government, 36%. In private, it’s only 5%. Even they don’t trust the government to trust the truth.” I don’t trust what I’m saying,” Rose continued. “Extend this to the media and you find something similar: only 7% of the public privately trusts the media to tell the truth.”
The social pressure index can be viewed here.
The study abstract explains how the data were determined: “The main methodology of the study was the list experiment (also known as the item counting technique), a survey technique designed to maximize respondent privacy.Rather than asking direct questions, a series of sensitive While asking respondents for their opinions on sensitive topics, list experiments hide respondents’ answers as part of their methodological design by aggregating responses to sensitive items with other items, thereby increasing social desirability. Minimizes bias introduced by non-response.
“If tolerance for dissent and the courage to engage in an open and free exchange of ideas are the hallmarks of a healthy democracy, then America’s epidemic of self-silencing is a five-alarm fire that engulfs key pillars of representative governance. Most Americans are afraid to share their honest opinions, not because they’re afraid of disagreement, but because they’re afraid of being judged,” Rose said in an interview with Fox News Digital. said in a statement earlier.
“Although nearly two in three Americans admit they don’t feel comfortable sharing their opinions, collective silence is a dangerous sign that this country is even more divided and polarized than it actually is.” It can create illusions,” Rose added. “The truth is that we are not as divided as we seem. We are becoming increasingly afraid to speak out.”
According to Populace, “The survey ran from 16 May 2024 to 24 June 2024 and was conducted by YouGov.”
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