Bummer: Americans Are More Afraid Of Clowns Than ‘Climate Change’

On the bright side, ‘climate change’ didn’t come in last or next to last place! Here’s Vox being Vox

Americans are more afraid of clowns than climate change, terrorism, and … death

We live in scary times.

In 2016, we’ve seen hundreds of mass shootings. We’ve watched the gap between rich and poor Americans widen. We’ve witnessed the fulminant rise of Donald Trump, whose nomination left Vox editor in chief Ezra Klein truly afraid for the first time in American politics.

But in the eyes of our citizens, there is a graver threat at hand: clowns.

In a poll we conducted with Morning Consult last week, 42 percent of Americans said they were, in some capacity, afraid of clowns. Among voters ages 18 to 29, nearly one in three admitted to at least a minor case of coulrophobia — fear of clowns.

The younger the group, the more afraid of clowns they become. Probably because those of us who are older understand that clowns aren’t really anything to be afraid of, and the jokes about them being scary and stuff on TV and in movies are jokes. Young people do not seem to have a sense of humor or reality nowadays.

Anyhow

We compared the results of our poll with a poll recently conducted by Chapman University, which asked 1,511 Americans to identify their greatest fears from a list of topics. Clowns outranked every single fear, save for “government corruption.” (Note that the Chapman poll only included “very afraid” and “afraid” as voting options, while our poll had “very afraid,” “somewhat afraid,” and “a little afraid.”)

42% were afraid of clowns. Just 32% were afraid of ‘climate change’.  After 25+ years of spreading awareness and controlling what kids are taught in school, what people see on television and in the news, one would think there would be more concern. Alas, no. So sad.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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