What are Americans afraid of?

Elliot Bentley

Hi, Elliot here from the visualization development team. Since it’s Halloween, I figured — why not attempt to find the scariest possible topic for a Weekly Chart?

The Chapman Survey of American Fears has asked Americans about their greatest fears (almost) almost every year since 2015. Forget ghosts, spiders, and zombies: The Halloween staples have nothing on this terrifying list.¹

The top ten often shifts in response to recent events, such as the 55% who reported being afraid of the "American Healthcare Act/Trumpcare" in 2017. Yet the one thing most Americans say they're afraid of has remained consistent since 2015.

What exactly does the phrase "Corrupt Government Officials" mean, anyway? One might be tempted to blame certain political parties or figures, but the truth appears to be more complicated — and more terrifying:

Our analysis of the data also shows that Americans perceive corruption at all levels of government — local, state and federal. Whereas some might suggest that perceptions of corruption are driven by mistrust of national politicians and the executive branch of government, our findings show that, although Americans perceive somewhat less corruption at the local level, all levels of government are generally perceived as compromised.

Chapman Survey of American Fears 2024, Key Findings (emphasis ours)

They conclude: "That citizens may be attracted to populist rhetoric decrying career politicians and the political establishment could have its roots in distrust driven by fear of corruption."

A years-long collapse in social trust and belief in institutions, leading to a rise in populist political movements? Now that’s what I call scary.

Thanks for reading! Come back next week for a Weekly Chart from our mapmaker Eleni.

1. Around one in ten of this year’s respondents said they were afraid of ghosts, and a quarter said they were afraid of "insects/arachnids." Around one in ten Americans reported a fear of "zombies" in the 2022 survey; sadly the 2023 and 2024 reports don’t mention the Z word. ↩

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Elliot Bentley

(he/him, vis.social/@ejb) is a senior data visualization developer at Datawrapper. He previously worked on interactive graphics and internal tools at The Wall Street Journal and created the popular web app oTranscribe. Outside of work, Elliot likes to make his own video games. He lives in London.

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