What do American adults fear at some level? Results for the Grand Sum of Very Afraid + Afraid + Slightly Afraid levels (everything but the kitchen sink) in the ninth 2023 Chapman Survey of American Fears. Public speaking was ranked #44 at 65.0%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The scary holiday of Halloween is coming soon, so in October Chapman University reported results from their ninth 2023 Chapman Survey of American Fears. That survey on 97 fears of 1014 adults was done by SSRS March 27 to April 4, 2023, and the margin of error is 3.7%. They asked about four fear levels: Very Afraid, Afraid, Slightly Afraid, and Not Afraid. They reported the percentage sum for Very Afraid plus Afraid. On October 20, 2023 I blogged about how Corrupt government officials (60.1) was the most common fear in the ninth Chapman Survey of American Fears. Public speaking only was ranked #53 (28.7%). Then on October 22, 2023 I blogged about What terrifies American adults? Corrupt government officials (29.8%) was the most common fear at the Very Afraid level in the ninth Chapman Survey of American Fears. Public speaking only was ranked #73 (10.4%).

 

Yet another way to report from that survey is “at some level” or “at any level” - by the Grand Sum of percentages for all three nonzero fear levels of Very Afraid + Afraid + Slightly Afraid. This slightly dishonest marketing tactic throws in “everything but the kitchen sink” to give the largest possible numbers – almost ninety percent. Never mind that Slightly Afraid really is not that significant. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have prepared a pair of bar charts for that data, the Top Fifty and Bottom Forty-Seven, which are shown above. (Click on them to see an enlarged view). For each entry I show the question number from the Methodology Report. Adding Slightly Afraid raises the percentage for public speaking from 28.7 to 65.0, and it now is ranked at #44 – barely in the Top Fifty. If you wish to give a rather awkward fraction, then 13 of 20 adults fear public speaking.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do the Top Ten for the Grand Sum compare with those for the sum of Very Afraid + Afraid? A table shown above reveals that eight of the ten fears are on both lists, but Corrupt government officials (87.3%) switched places from the top to second, and Economic/financial collapse (89.4%) moved up.

 

The kitchen sink was adapted from this 1941 image at the Library of Congress.