You probably won’t hear speaking coaches or motivational speakers cite results about fear of public speaking from the 2019 Chapman Survey of American Fears

That is because the fear of public speaking only is ranked #54 of 88 fears (and it has a fear score of only 2.081 – just above Slightly Afraid). Results from the 2019 Chapman Survey of American Fears finally were released on May 19, 2020 -  before Memorial Day. Results from previous surveys had been released before Halloween. But a motivational speaker also had a press release on May 19, 2020 titled Michael Lehrke discusses how to overcome fear of public speaking including a claim that:

“However, one fear that reportedly towers above them all is fear of public speaking or glossophobia.”

The latest Chapman survey was done between August 7 and 26 of 2019 on 1219 U.S. adults. Detailed results are reported in a .pdf file titled Methodology Report: American Fears Survey. There also is an article in a .pdf file by Sheyra Sheth titled America’s Top Fears 2019. As usual, there is a complete list of all 88 fears ranked by the percentage for Very Afraid plus Afraid. (It also is possible to use detailed results and calculate a Fear Score on a scale from 1 to 4 where 1 = Not Afraid, 2 = Slightly Afraid, 3 = Afraid, and 4 = Very Afraid). Some results are of particular interest during this time of COVID-19. They are by rank, percent, and fear score:

Corrupt government officials #1, 77.2%, 3.170

People I love becoming seriously ill #3, 66.7%, 2.944

People I love dying #5, 62.9%, 2.853

Becoming seriously ill #16, 51.3%, 2.583

Pandemic or a major epidemic #31, 42.8%, 2.392

Heights #41, 36.2%, 2.220

Dying #44, 34.6%, 2.158

Sharks #47, 32.3%, 2.015

Public speaking #54, 31.2%, 2.081

Fear of corrupt government officials ranked first and was far above public speaking. For public speaking the detailed results from 2019 were Very Afraid 12.8%, Afraid 18.4%, Slightly Afraid 32.9%, and Not Afraid 35.9%.

On May 2, 2020 I blogged about how it was not true that Are sharks now the #1 fear in America? Is public speaking only #2? On May 7, 2020 I also blogged about Tone deaf writing about fears of pandemic and public speaking. In that post I discussed another claim - that fear of public speaking was more terrifying than either sharks or heights.

Coaches often cite a Washington Post article about the 2014 Chapman Survey – where public speaking was ranked first out of twelve fears. On September 29, 2019 I had blogged about Stop playing – do serious digging before you come up with an opening statement. I pointed out that the more recent surveys had much different rankings.

The cartoon of a Cheerful Male Public Speaker was modified from one at Wikimedia Commons.