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60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll: November Edition

Welcome to the 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll for November. Well it's finally here. On November 6th we will elect a president for the next four years. The level of partisanship and rancor in this election has rarely been higher nor have the stakes.

It's a messy business, Churchill was said to have stated that "democracy is the worst form of government except all the others." Whoever wins will need to heal our divisions and bring us together to face issues and problems that we have put off for too long. Leave it to the genius of America that we have two holidays in November that can unite us and help with that healing. President Kennedy said, "the cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it." Our leaders may occasionally fail us, but our soldiers never do. On Veteran's Day we can come together as one nation to remember their sacrifice. And finally there is Thanksgiving, perhaps our best holiday. It is solemn yet joyous, sacred yet non denominational. It is a day when every American can give thanks in their own way. What better example of freedom is there than that? To all of our readers, Happy Thanksgiving, and now the results of our poll....

Americans are fairly evenly divided on this question. Forty-six percent would choose the convenience of living within 100 yards of their work place while 51 percent would not. With the hassle and expense of commuting on the rise, and the work/live movement in urban areas gaining traction, that small majority may not last much longer.

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Forty percent of Americans think that the term "bucket list" is a worthy addition to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Apologies to those who have ever hurled an F- bomb (two percent) after having an "Aha moment" (four percent) while "sexting" (14 percent) in their "man cave" (17 percent).


Forty-five percent of Americans blame the magazines for catering to the prurient impulses of their clientele. Twenty-six percent blame the clientele for having the prurient impulses that supply the demand for such photos. Sixteen percent blame the young royals for being indiscreet and three percent actually admit what most won't, they want to see the photos. There is plenty of blame to go around but what is new? Humans have been telling titillating stories about the lives of young royals since Homer told of the abduction of Helen of Troy in "The Iliad" around 700 BC.


Sixty percent of Americans would be more unhappy if their spouse was uneducated and only 24 percent would be more unhappy if they were overweight. It has been said that you can't be too rich, too thin or too smart. But thinking in the reverse, it appears that men and women think that it would be easier for their spouses to get thinner than it would be for them to get smarter.


Fifty-two percent of Americans would rather have a heated political debate about rival parties while 36 percent would prefer a frothy debate about respective sports teams. They may not be that far apart. Take the NFL teams and the major political parties. There is relative parity in both "leagues." They both have ardent fans that convene while wearing unusual hats and outfits. They live and die with the outcome of each "contest". Finally someone wins the Super Bowl/Presidential Election and they all go home and wait until the next campaign.


Twenty-five percent of Americans are quietly annoyed by a finger to the lips, another 25 percent are charged up by a fist pump, 22 percent are "put off" by air quotes, six percent give thumbs down to thumbs up, four percent say it is not A-OK to give the A-OK and 10 percent give a big hand to all the gestures.


Twenty-one percent of Americans would cast Denzel Washington to play Jesus in the new film. Fourteen percent chose the great Daniel Day-Lewis and 13 percent chose his fellow Oscar winner Al Pacino. Eleven percent picked Ryan Gosling and 10 percent went with an unlikely choice Woody Allen. Only three percent went with Philip Seymour Hoffman and 15 percent said "none of the above." They were probably satisfied with Jim Caviezel's recent portrayal in the "Passion of the Christ" which grossed over $600 million worldwide.


Sixty percent of Americans correctly identified Kwanzaa as a holiday celebrating African-American heritage. A total of 17 percent chose the other options and 23 percent did not know that it was a week long festival founded by Maulana Karenga in 1966.


It's a 60/40 split with 60 percent of Americans saying that they possess a library card (55 percent actually know where their card is). Ever since Benjamin Franklin established America's first free library in 1732, they have been integral to educating American citizens. With the Internet and other new technologies it is inevitable that the number of Americans using the system may drop. It will be a sad day if they become obsolete. They are the cultural centers of many towns and provide amazing opportunities and cost savings to millions of Americans.


Twenty-three percent of Americans chose "A Christmas Story" as the most overplayed Christmas movie on television. Next up was "Elf" (14 percent), "Christmas Vacation" (13 percent), "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (13 percent), "It's a Wonderful Life" (12 percent) and "Miracle on 34th Street" with (nine percent). Bob Clark's 1983 classic about Christmas in the 1940s was probably chosen because it is often played in 24-hour marathons, and younger viewers (it was chosen by 70 percent of people between 18 and 44) have probably seen enough.


Fifty percent of Americans think of Kim Kardashian as a reality television star. Eighteen percent associate her with a sex tape, eight percent think self- made businesswoman, seven percent think of certain physical traits and only one percent think of her perfume. One thing is for sure, she seems to have made it past 15 minutes....

This poll was conducted at the CBS News interviewing facility among a random sample of 1,102 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone September 27-30, 2012. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. Read more about this poll

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