Americans are more likely to view actress Sydney Sweeney favorably than unfavorably according to a new YouGov poll conducted during controversy over an American Eagle jeans ad she appeared in. Few see anything inappropriate in saying that someone has "good genes," as the ad does of Sweeney.
While 53% of Americans have no opinion about Sweeney, 35% have a very or somewhat favorable opinion of her and 13% have an unfavorable opinion. That's a net favorability (the percent who view Sweeney favorably minus the percent who view her unfavorably) of +22 — higher than the -14 net favorability of President Donald Trump, who praised Sweeney this week.
Conservatives are especially likely to view Sweeney favorably, with a net favorability of +38, compared to +20 among moderates and + 11 among liberals.
Men are more likely than women to have a net favorable opinion of Sweeney (+35 vs. +10). This is true among U.S. adult citizens overall, and among liberals (+16 among liberal men vs. +7 among liberal women), moderates (+34 vs. +6), and conservatives (+48 vs. +26).
There is widespread agreement among Americans that some people have "better genes" than others. 79% of Americans either strongly agree (40%) or somewhat agree (39%), while just 12% strongly (6%) or somewhat (6%) disagree.
Americans who say they are very liberal are more likely than others to disagree that some people have better genes, but even among this group, twice as many strongly or somewhat agree than disagree (62% vs. 30%).
Most Americans are OK with saying that someone has "good genes": 59% say that's appropriate and 17% say it's inappropriate. The share who say this is appropriate is higher among conservatives than liberals, and higher among those who have a favorable view of Sweeney than those with an unfavorable view of her.
The more strongly Americans believe that some people have better genes than others, the more likely they are to say it's appropriate to say someone has good genes. Among those who strongly agree that some people have better genes, 81% think saying "good genes" is appropriate, as do 57% of those who somewhat agree. Among the 12% of Americans who disagree that some people have better genes, only 24% say it's appropriate to say someone has good genes and 52% say it's inappropriate.
Americans are twice as likely to say their own genes are better than others' than that they're worse (28% vs. 14%), while 45% aren't sure and 23% don't believe it's possible to have better genes or aren't sure if this is possible.
How Americans think genes, the environment, and choice shape people
YouGov asked Americans whether they think each of 20 different traits are mostly determined by people's genes, by their environment and upbringing, or by their choices.
Large majorities of Americans say traits such as eye color (93%), height (90%), and — relevant for the American Eagle ad featuring Sweeney posing in jeans — physical attractiveness (73%) are predominantly determined by people's genes. Majorities also say that gender (73%) and sex (70%) are mostly determined by genes.
In contrast, few Americans say morality (5%), criminal behavior (2%), success in life (2%), religious faith (1%), or income (1%) are predominantly determined by genetics. Most say each of those factors are determined either by people's environment and upbringing, or by their choices.
The traits polled that Americans are most likely to say are mostly explained by people's environment are religious faith (60%), morality (57%), sense of humor (54%), and personality (51%).
The traits Americans are most likely to attribute to people's choices are their income (65%), success in life (63%), weight (53%), and physical health (52%).
Democrats and Republicans hold similar views about the importance of genes in determining most of the traits YouGov asked about — with the notable exception of gender. 67% of Democrats say gender is mostly determined by genes, compared to 89% of Republicans. Also, 42% of Democrats say sexual orientation is determined primarily by genes, compared to 33% of Republicans.
But there are big splits between the two parties on the relative roles of people's environment and choices. For 15 of the 20 traits, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say people's choices are more important than their environment. For example, about people's income, Republicans are overwhelmingly more likely to say this is mostly explained by choices than by their environment (82% vs. 11%), while Democrats credit choices over environment by a smaller margin (55% vs. 31%). Gender is the big exception: Democrats are more likely than Republicans to attribute it primarily to people's environment and choices, as they are far less likely to see it as mostly genetic. For the other four traits, similar proportions of Democrats and Republicans attribute each to people's environment and choices.
See the full results for how Democrats and Republicans attribute credit to people's genes, environment, and choices in this table:
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,129 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty (Neilson Barnard / Staff)
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