News of the search for — and the loss of — the Titan submersible, which imploded on its trek to the wreckage of the Titanic, reached nearly all Americans, new findings from the Economist/YouGov show. Just 6% say they have heard nothing at all about the event. In contrast, 38% say they heard nothing about the attempted coup in Russia.
Few Americans seem willing to take a risk such as the one taken by the five people who died in the Titan did, or to do several other risky activities. About one-quarter (28%) definitely or probably would be willing to skydive, even if money were no object, and even smaller shares would take a rocket into space (25%) or climb Mt. Everest (17%). Only 12% would definitely or probably take a submarine to the ocean floor.
For each of these four activities, men are more willing than women to say they’d take the risk. Adults under 45 are more likely than older adults to say they would, too.
Related: How do Americans feel about extreme sports and activities?
See the toplines and crosstabs from the Economist/YouGov poll conducted on June 24 - 27, 2023 among 1,500 U.S. adult citizens.
Methodology: Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel using sample matching. 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, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3%.
Image: Adobe Stock (Sven Bachstroem)
