Republicans are particularly confident in their ability to survive an apocalypse
Many Americans have experience with natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes but each time that one hits an area of the country it is apparent that few people take disaster preparation as seriously as the government tells them to. When people are often so woefully unprepared for a hurricane or earthquake, what hope is there if civilization as we know it were to collapse?
Research from YouGov shows that Americans are relatively optimistic about their fate in the event of an apocalyptic event. People tend to say that their survival time in the event of an apocalypse would be roughly the same as most people in their community (42%). 32% say that they'd live longer than most while 11% think that they'd end up dying early on. There is a significant partisan split on this question, however. 43% of Republicans say that they would survive longer than most people in their community, something only 22% of Democrats say. 47% of Democrats say that they'd live as long as most other people in their community.
Should an apocalypse hit, one of the biggest questions everyone would face is whether to stay put or try and seek shelter somewhere else. Most Americans (62%) say that they would try to brave it out at home, but 38% say that they'd evacuate their current location and try to seek shelter somewhere else. People who live in cities (46%) are particularly likely to say that they would leave home and go elsewhere, while people in rural areas (78%) are the most likely to say that they would stay at home to try and survive the apocalypse.
Asked what the most likely cause of the end of civilization is, nuclear war was the most popular option, chosen by 28% of Americans. Climate change and judgement day tied for second place with 16%, followed by worldwide revolution at 9%.
Full poll results can be found here and topline results and margin of error here.
