YouGov poll on perception of size of minority groups

[Metaphor]

An absolutely fascinating look at how people perceive the size of minority and majority groups.

From millionaires to Muslims, small subgroups of the population seem much larger to many Americans | YouGov

When it comes to estimating the size of demographic groups, Americans rarely get it right. In two recent YouGov polls, we asked respondents to guess the percentage (ranging from 0% to 100%) of American adults who are members of 43 different groups, including racial and religious groups, as well...

today.yougov.com

 

[Swammerdami]

Here are the mean (or median in parens) guessed sizes for religious afifliation:

Jewish 30% (25%)
Muslim 27% (20%)
Catholic 41% (39%)
Atheist 33% (28%)

Surely few think that someone can be BOTH Muslim AND Catholic. If Atheists are also mutually exclusive, these four categories account for well over 100% of the population! And these groups exclude Protestant which most Americans are.

Let's set aside "Atheists" (e.g. suppose that ALL Jews and a tenth of Catholics are atheist). Then subtracting from 100%, we're still left with a residue far too small to contain the many American Protestants:
residue 2% (16%).

Replace 'Catholic' with 'Christian' and the totals are even more absurd:
Christian 70% (70%)
Jew+Musl+Xian+Atheist 160% (143%)
(I wonder how many Americans consider Catholics to be Christians. )

This is a stark indication of how innumerate many or most people (or at least Americans) are.

 

[Metaphor]

Here are the mean (or median in parens) guessed sizes for religious afifliation:

Jewish 30% (25%)
Muslim 27% (20%)
Catholic 41% (39%)
Atheist 33% (28%)

Surely few think that someone can be BOTH Muslim AND Catholic.

I once read a review of Lena Dunham's Girls that described Dunham as 'half-Catholic and half-Jewish' because she had a Catholic parent and a Jewish parent. So I expect some proportion of the American population do actually think such things.

 

[laughing dog]

Here are the mean (or median in parens) guessed sizes for religious afifliation:

Jewish 30% (25%)
Muslim 27% (20%)
Catholic 41% (39%)
Atheist 33% (28%)

Surely few think that someone can be BOTH Muslim AND Catholic.

I once read a review of Lena Dunham's Girls that described Dunham as 'half-Catholic and half-Jewish' because she had a Catholic parent and a Jewish parent. So I expect some proportion of the American population do actually think such things.

Once one realizes that one's perceived religious affiliation might be used to as descriptor of one's cultural views and social behavior rather than one's religious beliefs, it is reasonable to have such beliefs.

 

[Metaphor]

Here are the mean (or median in parens) guessed sizes for religious afifliation:

Jewish 30% (25%)
Muslim 27% (20%)
Catholic 41% (39%)
Atheist 33% (28%)

Surely few think that someone can be BOTH Muslim AND Catholic. If Atheists are also mutually exclusive, these four categories account for well over 100% of the population! And these groups exclude Protestant which most Americans are.

Let's set aside "Atheists" (e.g. suppose that ALL Jews and a tenth of Catholics are atheist). Then subtracting from 100%, we're still left with a residue far too small to contain the many American Protestants:
residue 2% (16%).

Replace 'Catholic' with 'Christian' and the totals are even more absurd:
Christian 70% (70%)
Jew+Musl+Xian+Atheist 160% (143%)
(I wonder how many Americans consider Catholics to be Christians. )

This is a stark indication of how innumerate many or most people (or at least Americans) are.

For Christian, 70% was the true proportion, 58% was the guessed proportion.

I'd wager many Americans don't think Catholics are Christians, but the people who think it are almost certainly hellbound Protestants so it hardly matters what they think.