this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2025
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politics

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[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

15% of Americans would tell you the earth is hollow and a race of horse people lives down there, if the question asked about it.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 23 points 2 days ago (1 children)

NEW POLL: 15 Percent of Americans will lie to not have to admit they were mislead.

[–] falseWhite@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Misled? It couldn't have been more clear what kind of person Trump is.

"15 Percent of Americans will lie to not have to admit they knowingly supported a pedo."

FTFY

[–] Pacattack57@lemmy.world 108 points 2 days ago (9 children)

Those got to be the dumbest people our country has to offer 😂

[–] tburkhol@lemmy.world 35 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Dunno, man: 40% of Americans believe the earth is less than 10,000 years old. Only 2% of them believe it's flat, though. We are not an information-rich culture.

[–] BruceAlrighty@lemmy.nz 10 points 2 days ago

79% of Americans believe in some imaginary sky friends.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 days ago

If you bring religion into the mix, even intelligent people are more likely to believe ridiculous claims. Being indoctrinated from birth is a powerful thing.

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

We are in an over-rich information culture, we just have some really undescerning people who don't know truth from lies when being bombarded with it all.

[–] MrVilliam@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I disagree. There is no shortage of information. It's just mixed in with a shitload of misinformation, disinformation, and bullshit, garnished with slop and irrelevant garbage to also have to sift through to find anything useful.

And we stopped teaching kids how to differentiate because we thought it would be more important to prove through standardized tests that kids are meeting curricula, but that means we all memorized "the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell" without actually breaking down what that phrase means.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago

Yeah, having information available isn't useful in and of itself. You have to be able to think critically to be able to pick out what has merit and what does not.

[–] pyria@kbin.melroy.org 26 points 2 days ago

They are probably the same people who voted for him.

[–] WizardofFrobozz@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

They know.

They are pretending not to because “fuck you, you can’t prove I do.”

With enough gerrymandering the same 15% could potentially dictate politics.

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Take the average American. Half of the people are dumber than that. Any questions?

[–] UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

Probably evangelicals.. I know there's a lot more, but you know, cult thinking and shit.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Came here to say this. I'd love to know what the average IQ is for this 15 percent.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 days ago

70-85: This range is considered low average, or borderline intellectual functioning. Many people in this range are able to work, have social lives, and function independently, but may need some academic accommodations or support.

That range sounds about right.

[–] titanicx@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

Yes. Republicans.

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world -3 points 2 days ago

These must be those who actually voted. Y'know, because all the 'smart' people were sitting it out.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There is always a percentage of people who are complete disconnected from news, current affairs, politics or anything outside of their narrow experience.

They probably couldn't tell you who the vice president is or if Epstein is alive or dead without prompting.

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

My cousin immigrated to the US and wasn't aware of the ICE raids. Although to be fair, he was a sailor and so he may have had limited access to news while travelling. But on the one hand, with how almost instantaneous access to information these days even if one is travelling a lot, as you said, my cousin may have narrow experience in terms of what information he choose to consume. As in, he maybe only caring about news from our home country.

[–] aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 day ago

Nah, he raped kids to stop them getting raped. Don't you read the news? He was trying to take epstein down!

[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 49 points 2 days ago (1 children)

so 35% believe he is guilty and voted for him anyway.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago (3 children)

No, because far less than 100% of Americans are voters, and the 15% is about Americans not voters....

Even then, pretty sure he didn't get 50% of the votes.

So however you meant what you said, you're wrong.

[–] MirthfulAlembic@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

About 22% of all Americans (not just voters) voted for him in 2024. So there's still millions of people who voted for him and believed he knew.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

They believe he knew, now. May not have in 2024.

[–] MirthfulAlembic@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Very true. I'm genuinely curious how many Trump voters didn't find it likely enough last year to vote for him and only now do.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Still, the fact that it is non-zero is rather disgusting.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

not how statistics work. percentages apply to sample of any size.

imagine there were 100 voters in the last elections. trump got 50 of them and if he got all of this 15% group (unlikely, but it actually plays in his favor in this argument). that means 50*0,70=35 of his voters believed he was guilty and voted for him anyway.

if someone asks why 0,70 and not 0,85 (1-0,15) it is based on assumption that the we believe he is not guilty group was largely voting for him, which is not unreasonable assumption. if some of them were actually voting for democrats, that makes the number of people voting for him despite believing he is a child rapist even higher.

(this argument indeed ignores shift of this number in time).

Even then, pretty sure he didn’t get 50% of the votes.

even though it is irrelevant in this argument - he got 49.80% of votes and he won popular vote with 77,3M against harris's 75M votes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election#Results

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

not how statistics work

Correct, everything after that sentence infers youve never taken even a basic statistics course...

Are you just going off highschool math when they taught you percentages?

[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Are you just going off highschool math when they taught you percentages?

are you going off elementary one where they did not? 😂

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I was genuinely asking because it makes sense how someone could make your mistakes if they never actually took a stats course...

Although, I admit there was a joking implication that percentages weren't taught till then, but...

are you going off elementary one where they did not? 😂

It kind of sounds like you really didn't get to percentages till at least jr high.

I'm sorry if I upset you and you just reflexively lashed out, but you're never gonna learn more if you keep responding to people who want to help like that.

I could have spent this time explaining stats instead of why asking questions is best when you're confused.

Best of luck tho.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I’m sorry if I upset you It kind of sounds like you really didn’t get to percentages till at least jr high

i am sorry if i upset you by explaining how percentages work, but i have to say, this your idea that percentages are some kind of magic from high school explains a lot.

I could have spent this time explaining

you could have spent that time education yourself. contrary to what they told you, false confidence is NOT all you need.

[–] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

Not but the files bro. Really important bro. It's not like everyone already knows and Trump is king. No bro the files. Release them and we defeat racism bro trust.

[–] inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world 32 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

The actual numbers are so much worse. The 15% overall "didnt know" is watered down from ~30% Republicans. They are lying either to the pollsters or more likely, themselves.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 16 points 2 days ago

I don't see Trump blew Clinton on that poll. Outdated.

Republicans gotta be the stupidest mfs around

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 30 points 2 days ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relationship_of_Donald_Trump_and_Jeffrey_Epstein

In 2002, speaking to New York magazine, Trump said "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy." He also stated that "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."

and

In 2017, Epstein told Wolff that he had been Trump's "closest friend for 10 years".

Two guys who say they'd been friends for a long time.

[–] lilas105@ttrpg.network 6 points 2 days ago

"Did you know about Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking minors?" - asked no reporter ever

spits

[–] kmartburrito@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

Waaaaaaay too high of a number

[–] Sprocketfree@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago

They're just liars.

[–] sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago (2 children)

In other news approximately 15 to 20% of Americans are illiterate.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The average American reads below a 6th grade level. Meaning half of them are competitive with grade schoolers. They are not picking up on nuance or context at all.

[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The average American reads below a 6th grade level.

Here's a great example of how that compares to other adjacent grades.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

That clip was a great demonstration. Succinct but informative

[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

It's actually more like 21%

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Thats 15% too much