Americans of all ages have heard about singer Miley Cyrus' explicit performance at the VMAs and her reputation is now overwhelmingly negative.
Over the past year or so Miley Cyrus has rapidly shed her polished Disney star image and has become one of the raunchier characters in the entertainment industry as she hopes to make a name for herself as an adult celebrity and not just a former children's television figure. At the MTV music awards last weekend she was in a centrepiece performance with also-controversial Robin Thicke, where she danced suggestively in latex and proceeded to 'twerk' in front of Robin Thicke. She has come under fire for her sexualized dance routines, while some commentators say that she tried - and failed - to use the opportunity to transition to being an adult star in the same way Britney Spears did at her similar performance a decade ago.
The latest YouGov research shows that a solid majority of Americans thought that her performance was not appropriate for television, with 68% saying that it was inappropriate and only 13% saying that it was appropriate. 20% of under-30s thought it was appropriate, however, compared to only 3% of over-65s.
Miley faces an enormous battle to win over the public anyway - the vast majority of Americans now don't like her. Only 15% of Americans say that they have a favorable opinion of the young star, while 69% have unfavorable opinions - of whom 44% say that they have a 'very unfavorable' opinion.
Surprisingly when asked whether they had heard about her performance, the vast majority of Americans of all ages had heard or read about it, with people aged 30-44 (61%) being the most likely to have heard 'a lot' about it. Less surprisingly, people aged over 65 (18%) were the least likely to have heard anything about it at all.
