In celebration of Presidents Day, a recent Zogby poll asked respondents to write in their selection for the greatest US President.  Abraham Lincoln took first place overall, with 22% of our respondents naming him  as the greatest President. Rounding out the top three were Ronald Reagan, with 19% of the vote, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, with 16% of the vote.

Partisan differences were quite clear on this poll. Among Republicans only, Ronald Reagan is the top choice, with 40%  of Republicans naming him as the greatest President.  Among Democrats only, Franklin D. Roosevelt is the winner, with 28% of the vote among Democrats. Independents largely mirrored the overall vote in choosing Lincoln, with 23% of Independents naming him the greatest President.

Who do you think is the greatest President and why? Do any of these results surprise you?

Katy Uncategorized history, holidays, politics

How will you spend your Valentines Day this year?

If you’re like our survey respondents, chances are you won’t celebrate the holiday by spending lots of money.  We reported earlier this week that 67% of Americans plan to spend less than $50 on Valentines day, including 25% of us who plan to spend no money at all. Men are slightly more likely to spend money than women, with 31% of them planning to spend at least $50, compared to 18% of women who plan to spend $50 or more.

And while 47% of those who say they are not currently in love plan to spend nothing at all, 31% of married respondents say they will spend $50 or more, and only 15% of married respondents plan to spend nothing.

How do these results compare to your Valentines plans? Is Valentines Day a holiday about love or a holiday about consumerism?

Katy Uncategorized culture, holidays

Just in time for Halloween, here are some statistics about Americans’ beliefs on things that go bump in the night, courtesy of a recent Zogby/Animal Planet survey .

- More than one third of those surveyed (39%) said they have seen a ghost or know someone who has. Fifty-four percent have never seen a ghost before, while eight percent were unsure.

- When asked what legendary creature they would like to see proven as real, thirty-six percent of people said they would like Bigfoot to be real, while 21% said ghosts. Twenty-seven percent said various other creatures, including vampires and werewolves.

-About one in five respondents (21%) said they have been visited by a dead friend or relative, while 72% said they haven’t been and 8% were unsure.

- When respondents were asked what creature they would least like to meet in a dark alley, werewolf topped the list with 20%. Thirteen percent said vampire, and 12% said zombie.

-A surprising 35% percent of people said they believe in aliens, while 40% said they don’t, and 25% were unsure.

Are you a believer in any of the paranormal creatures or activities discussed above? Why or why not?

Katy culture holidays, paranormal, zogby

A recent article in the New York Times reported on the results of a study looking at end-of-life care and treatment for cancer patients. The study , which used a questionnaire and interviews to divide the patients by levels of religious observance and faith, tracked which types of patients preferred aggressive  and “life-prolonging” medical care  during the last week of their lives.  The study found that during the last week of their life,  the most religious patients were three times as likely as less religious patients to be put on a mechanical ventilator . In addition, less religious patients were more likely to do advance care planning such as preparing a living will or having a health care proxy. Senior author of the study, Holly G. Prigerson, notes in the article that ” people think that spiritual patients are more likely to say their lives are in God’s hands – ‘Let what happens happen’ – but in fact we know they want more aggressive care.”

Compare this with the results of a recent Zogby Interactive survey on death attitudes taken in November 2008.   We asked respondents whether they strongly agreed, somewhat agreed, somewhat disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement “the prospect of my own death arouses anxiety in me”. We also asked how often the respondent attends religious services – more than weekly, weekly, 1-2 times a month, on holidays, rarely, or never.   In our case, the respondents who attend services more often are not more anxious about death than those who are less observant. In fact, our results show the opposite pattern. 32.3% of those who attend services weekly or more than weekly strongly or somewhat agree that the prospect of their own death arouses anxiety, while 30.7% of those who attend services 1-2 times a month, 41.0% of those who attend services on holidays, and 41.5% of those who attend services rarely or never feel the same way.

Why would more religiously observant people claim to be less anxious about their own death but be more likely to seek aggressive care or not plan for the end of their life?  Do you see this as a contradiction, or are these surveys addressing two separate issues?

Katy death, future death, faith, health, holidays, religion, zogby

In honor of Valentine’s day, here‘s a smattering of some recent Zogby findings on relationships, love, and romance. Chocolate is optional!

While Valentine’s Day sometimes gets a bad reputation as an anxiety-inducing holiday, our research indicates that people actually find other holidays more stressful. When asked last summer, people named “significant other’s birthday”(37%) and “wedding or other personal anniversary” (28%) as the two most stressful holidays. Valentine’s day placed third, with 24% of respondents naming it as the most stressful holiday.

Furthermore, our survey respondents still favor traditional methods of meeting their valentines. When asked about the best way to meet a significant other, a large majority (81%) selected “introductions through mutual friends”. Running a very distant second and third were “at work” (9.8%) and “online” (6.4%).

For some other interesting Valentine’s Day statistics, check out the results of this nonscientific survey of readers jointly conducted by Men’s Health and Women’s Health. Among the interesting findings: 85.0% of respondents said it’s “not important at all” to get a gift on Valentine’s Day , and 63.4% of respondents said it’s “cheesy” to say “I love you” for the first time on Valentine’s Day.

We wonder how your experiences compare to those of these survey-takers. Where does Valentine’s Day fall on your scale of stressful holidays and why?

Katy lifestyles health, holidays, romance, summer, work, zogby