A New Poll Shows Americans Don't Actually Understand Anything About The Deficit
A new Business Insider-SurveyMonkey Audience poll has found that Americans know shockingly little about the budget, federal deficits and major top line economic indicators.
We asked about 500 respondents to write in an estimate of several different statistics, including the U.S. deficit.
This year the Congressional Budget Office expects it to be $642 billion, down from $1.087 trillion in 2012. That's the lowest it's been in five years.
Does America realize that?
Nope.
Walter Hickey / BI, Data via Surveymonkey Audience
But what's even weirder is that even though people think the deficit is actually getting bigger, they don't really know what the budget deficit is.
We asked them to estimate the annual budget deficit, which is $642 billion.
So this is a difficult question, and we really can't knock people for getting it wrong. What we can knock them for, however, is getting it wrong by multiple orders of magnitude.
So if someone answered the question in the rage of hundreds of billions or trillions, they're probably in the right ballpark, or at least county.
Many people, alas, did not. Most, it seems, actually significantly underestimated the U.S. budget deficit:
Walter Hickey / BI, Data via Surveymonkey Audience
- Saudi Arabia wants China to help fund its struggling $500 billion Neom megaproject. Investors may not be too excited.
- I spent $2,000 for 7 nights in a 179-square-foot room on one of the world's largest cruise ships. Take a look inside my cabin.
- One of the world's only 5-star airlines seems to be considering asking business-class passengers to bring their own cutlery
- Experts warn of rising temperatures in Bengaluru as Phase 2 of Lok Sabha elections draws near
- Axis Bank posts net profit of ₹7,129 cr in March quarter
- 7 Best tourist places to visit in Rishikesh in 2024
- From underdog to Bill Gates-sponsored superfood: Have millets finally managed to make a comeback?
- 7 Things to do on your next trip to Rishikesh