Economy
What Americans Don't Know About Americans
A new survey shows we are off-base with perceptions on religion, wealth, and other details of our neighbors’ lives.
How informed are Americans? A recent survey from the U.K.- and Ireland-based market-research firm Ipsos Mori looks at a number of common fallacies espoused by average Americans. The aim of the survey—aptly named “Perils of Perception”—is to demonstrate national, and even global, misconceptions of key issues for 33 countries around the world.
Although the U.S. ranks as one of the least-ignorant nations according to the survey, Americans grossly misunderstand some of the basic characteristics of their population. Take household wealth, for example. While the average American thinks that the wealthiest one percent own 57 percent of household income, the reality is less stark: America’s wealthiest actually own 37 percent.