60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll: Mortality
Welcome to the 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll for September 2013. Summer vacations are winding down and the kids are back in school. It's time for Americans to get serious again and this month's poll topic is serious bordering on grave: human mortality. Who would you be most willing to give your life for? People have always been fascinated with questions about death and dying. In response, the pharaohs built the pyramids, Shakespeare asked the ultimate question, "To be, or not to be" and Hollywood has been having it both ways lately with stories about the undead.
This month, Americans are asked to contemplate their own mortality. What do you think? We look forward to hearing your opinions. And now the results...
Americans would overwhelmingly give up their life for a family member. Fifty-five percent said they would be most willing to die for their child, 12 percent said their spouse and 10 percent said their parents. Another 10 percent chose their religion and only five percent chose their country. It is certainly fitting and proper that most people would choose a family member, so it looks like the days of Patrick Henry ("give me liberty or give me death") and Nathan Hale ("I regret that I have but one life to give for my country") are history.
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Most Americans (54 percent) could not bring themselves to "flip the switch" on a convicted murderer while 40 percent said they would be able to do it. More men (50 percent) than women (30 percent) were among those who could hit the switch.
Thirty-seven percent of Americans think that dying on the toilet would be the most embarrassing way to die. Seventeen percent said having sex, 13 percent would not like fast food to be their "last supper," and slipping in the tub or choking on a pretzel got 10 percent each.
This month's fantasy question asks Americans to choose which fictional character they most wish had not been killed off. Twenty-six percent wish that Jack Dawson had not gone down with the ship in the film "Titanic." Fourteen percent wished that Fredo Corleone never went fishing, 10 percent were sorry that Ned Stark lost his head on HBO's "Game of Thrones," seven percent wanted "Bernie" Lomax to have a better weekend, six percent would like Matthew from "Downton Abbey" to crawl back up from the grave, and five percent did not want Fantine to be so miserable.
Fantasy question part two asks what deceased real celebrity Americans would bring back to life for an encore? Thirty-five percent chose Princess Diana (43 percent women versus 26 percent men), Steve Jobs found himself in the unusual position of being second at something with 14 percent, followed by Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston with 11 percent each, Heath Ledger nine percent, grunge rocker Kurt Cobain six percent and the wonderful actor James Gandolfini (aka Tony Soprano) with three percent.
The moral of the following question is don't leave it to chance, tell your loved ones where and how you want your remains to be treated. For a third of Americans that would choose to be cremated, the place that they would least like their family to spread their ashes would be at a bar. Twenty-three percent would say no to a shopping mall followed by our neighbor to the north with 11 percent, an amusement park nine percent, and a movie theater nine percent.
The celebrity epitaph that 40 percent of Americans would most like to have on their tombstone is Frank Sinatra's "The best is yet to come." Next up with 13 percent is the epitaph of the Chairman of the Board's good friend and fellow Rat Packer Dean Martin," Everybody loves somebody sometime;'" followed by man of a thousand voices Mel Blanc's "That's all folks!" at 12 percent; combative movie star and consummate actress Bette Davis' "She did it the hard way" received 10 percent; and, even in death, Rodney Dangerfield gets no respect with only seven percent choosing his departing shot "There goes the neighborhood."
Most Americans like things that are free, but even if cryonic freezing was at no charge, three out of four of them would not do it in the hopes of being revived at some point in the future. Twenty-four percent said they would brave the cold and try it. It may be generational, only 11 percent of those over 65 would take the icy plunge while almost 40 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 34 would try and freeze time.
An overwhelming 84 percent of Americans would want their family to remember them by celebrating their life with laughter food and drink. Only 11 percent would prefer that they mourn their loss with solemn reflection. There's an old joke, what's the difference between an Irish wedding and an Irish wake? One less party guest. Despite our Puritan roots, Americans have decided that a life well lived is well worth celebrating.
Nearly three out of four Americans claim that they have never fantasized about what people will say about them at their funeral. The other one quarter say that they have thought about it. Whether you have or have not there's still time to change that final funeral scene for the better. A well lived life will always bring an outpouring of wonderful stories and memories, on the other hand...
Fifty-eight percent of Americans would choose to have their spouse outlive them and 28 percent would prefer to outlive their spouse. Many of those 28 percent may be substantially younger and have every right to wish for more years. However 70 percent of those wanting to die first were men...