Only two-thirds of American millennials consider Earth to be round

2% of adult Americans are firmly convinced the Earth is as flat as a pancake


News Desk April 04, 2018
Flat Earth Theory. PHOTO: YOUGOV

The Flat Earth conspiracy theory is something many people like to talk about, and according to a poll reported in the Indy100.com, only 66% of the millennials in the United States are convinced that our planet is round.

The conspiracy theory is popular among a younger generation of Americans.  Four per cent of millennia’s, aged 18 to 24 are likelier than any other age group to say they believe the Earth is flat.

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In February, a survey by the polling company YouGov found that majority of Americans, around 84%, believe that the Earth is round. But, at least 5% of the total public says they now have their 'doubts'.

And out of 8,215 US adults surveyed, only 66% of 18 to 24 years of age are firmly convinced of the planet's round shape. That leaves one third of young adults who reckon the Earth is flat.

PHOTO: POLL BY YOUGOV PHOTO: POLL BY YOUGOV

Despite being riddled with inconsistencies, people are buying into the belief that the Earth is flat and surrounded by an ice wall and this certainty seems to be increasing with the conspiracists having their own Flat Earth Society, whose membership continues to grow.

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The article mentioned that not only do theory believers have their own Flat Earth Society, which has been mocked several times by billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, but their ideas are starting to connect with the millennials.

The results show that the belief is held less widely as people in the survey get older, with 94% of people aged 55 and over being certain that the planet is round.

The poll results, weighted to be representative of the US population, revealed that 2% of adult Americans are firmly convinced the 'Earth is as flat as a pancake'.

However, the entire total is still disturbingly low as 9% of the 18 to 24-year-olds surveyed admitted that they “always believed that our planet was round but have been more doubtful about this fact recently.”

The article went on to say “breaking the survey in to gender differences data showed that 86% of men believed that the Earth was round while only 83% of women shared the belief.”

Republicans were more likely to believe that the world has a spherical shape with around 89%, whereas Democrats were slightly more skeptical at 83%.

Only 79% of people earning under $40,000 said that they always thought the Earth was round, whereas it shot up to 92% for people who earned $80,000 or more.”

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Equally interesting is the role religion played in people’s perceptions of the flat Earth theory, with more than 50% of Flat Earth conspiracist regarding themselves as “very religious’”– a figure which dropped to 17% for those who were “not religious at all.”

PHOTO: YOUGOV PHOTO: YOUGOV

Celebrity Rapper BoB has rejected the round Earth theory and declared on Twitter that the Earth is flat.

https://twitter.com/bobatl/status/691777721811255297

The rapper went to church growing up as his father is a Reverend. Now, he doesn’t talk about religion much in public. In his song “Left Field,” he distances himself from any religious affiliation.

This article first appeared on the Indy100.com.

COMMENTS (3)

Bunny Rabbit | 5 years ago | Reply With so much ignorance / problems within US , The likes of DT really think they can change the world .
Ismail Mirza | 5 years ago | Reply For all intents and purposes, does it really make any difference to their daily existence anyway ?
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