60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll: September Edition
Welcome to the 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll for September. For many, the Labor Day weekend marks the end of "summer hours," one last chance to hit the beach, hold a barbecue or engage in their favorite summer activity. After that, every kid will be back in school and the adults will be back working harder than ever. By the end of September, Major League Baseball will know what teams are in or out of the playoffs.
Both the NFL and NCAA football seasons start in earnest and Americans can hardly wait. Speaking of hardcore contact sports, the election takes place in a couple of months and voters are in for a good old fashioned slugfest. Unlimited PAC money will test the limits of decorum.
And now the results of our poll...
If Jesus were alive today, half of Americans that were asked think that he would be a teacher. Eighteen percent thought he would stay in the family business and be a carpenter. Ten percent said he would be a rabbi, another 10 percent chose public defender and only two percent picked digital entrepreneur. Women chose teacher by a large margin over men.
Check out the Vanity Fair slideshow.
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If they had their way, 35 percent would trick Halloween revelers out of their treats. Eighteen percent would thumb their noses at saying "bless you" and another 18 percent would promenade right out of high school without a formal dance to embarrass them. Eleven percent said enough already with "God Bless America" being sung at every sporting event and 16 percent could not bring themselves to do away with any of those traditions.
What constitutes a "normal" amount of underwear to own? Sixty percent thought 8-15 pairs, a one or two week supply smelled good. Seventeen percent thought a two to four week supply would be even better (maybe for a safari or an extended trip?). Eleven percent thought 1-7 pairs were enough (serial launderers and the "back to nature" crowd). Five percent said 30-60 pairs and three percent said 365 pairs (obviously employed by the undergarment industry).
"Go West young man"...but 46 percent of respondents don't think you need to go through the "Gateway to the West" in St. Louis to get there. Thirty-one percent remembered the Alamo...was not that impressive. Twelve percent of voters carved up Mount Rushmore and the Grand Canyon evenly and three percent thought Niagara Falls was all wet. Anyone who has been to any of the last three places would disagree that they are not "impressive."
If they had to, 43 percent of Americans would eliminate physical education. Thirty-two percent didn't want to play the elimination game. The remaining votes went to science nine percent, history six percent, English four percent and math three percent. This is a very important topic that is getting crowded out of the national debate. Take a look at the world rankings -- is America's mediocre performance due to lack of sufficient investment, diminishing resources or wasteful priorities and practices? Let the debate begin.
About a third of Americans knew or correctly guessed that there are eight Ivy League Schools in the United States. Nineteen percent guessed there were 15 Ivies and 18 percent did not know, nor did the remaining 29 percent that guessed wrong. Although synonymous with colonial charters, long histories and elite academic excellence, the term "Ivy League" was actually incorporated in 1954 to name a sports league that was being formed by some of the Northeast's best colleges.
Why would a mother of young children pose for Playboy? Naked ambition? Fifty-one percent of Americans said that it is never in good taste. Twenty-three percent say, "If you've got it, flaunt it" and 20 percent feel that once you have kids, it is no longer appropriate. America's moral code has been loosening for some time, but every now and then our Puritan roots well up and are laid bare like the Bunnies. This may be one of those times.
Seventy-five percent of Americans agree with the axiom "There's no such thing as a free lunch." The other 25 percent are hoping they are wrong. With a $16 trillion deficit staring us in the face we may find out sooner rather than later.
Now here's a loaded question. Americans are never bashful in complaining about how Washington squanders their tax dollars. These days they think the biggest wasters are presidential vacations 26 percent, congressional junkets 24 percent and steroid investigations 24 percent. Less wasteful in their opinion is spending on defense 11 percent and foreign aid 10 percent. The next time, maybe we'll make it easier and offer a choice that reads "all of the above."
And now for our monthly fantasy question. By more than a two to one margin, Americans would wake up and be a lover not a fighter. A fine arts lover that is, versus a martial arts expert. Expertise in martial arts is invigorating and useful but so too is a well-rounded knowledge of the fine arts. At some point a martial arts expert may be physically unable to continue, but a fine arts expertise would last you a lifetime.
This poll was conducted at the CBS News interviewing facility among a random sample of 1,027 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone July 26-29, 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.