Tag: survey
Americans Vastly Overestimate Size Of LGBT Population, Poll Finds

Americans Vastly Overestimate Size Of LGBT Population, Poll Finds

By Ben Brody Bloomberg News, (TNS)

Same-sex marriage is one of the fastest-moving social issues in U.S. history, having become legal in state after state as Americans cheer it in ever-growing numbers. But one thing is slightly off-kilter: Americans seem to have absolutely no idea just how many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are out there.

In fact, they think that 23 percent of Americans, or almost 1 in 4, are LGBT, a Gallup survey released Thursday revealed. That’s way off: The polling organization most recently found that less than 4 percent self-identify that way.

A third of people surveyed believed that LGBT made up more than 25 percent of the population. Just 9 percent of those in the survey correctly stated that they thought the group made up less than 5 percent of the population.

It’s unclear why people think the LGBT population is six times larger than it actually is.

“Part of the explanation for the inaccurate estimates of the gay and lesbian population rests with Americans’ general unfamiliarity with numbers and demography,” Gallup ventured, noting that people also overestimate the size of the African-American and Hispanic populations in the U.S., although usually only by a factor of two.

“The overestimation (of the size of the LGBT population) may also reflect prominent media portrayals of gay characters on television and in movies, even as far back as 2002, and perhaps the high visibility of activists who have pushed gay causes, particularly legalizing same-sex marriage.”

Several gay, lesbian, bisexual, and even transgender characters have become prominent in recent years on TV shows such as “Modern Family,” “Scandal,” “Degrassi” and “Glee,” as well as in movies including “Brokeback Mountain” and the Academy Award-winning biopic “The Imitation Game.”

Those who oppose same-sex marriage give slightly lower — but still way-too-high — estimates of the LGBT population than those who support it do, but the difference between the two groups’ estimates was within the margin of error of 4 percentage points.

In a separate Gallup poll released Tuesday, the organization found a “record high” 60 percent of Americans favoring the legalization of same-sex marriage.

Photo: Jesse Tyler Ferguson plays Mitchell Pritchett, one-half of the gay couple on the ABC hit comedy “Modern Family.” (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Yahoo News/Wikipedia)

Most Americans Have Low Confidence In Police Ability To Treat Races Equally

Most Americans Have Low Confidence In Police Ability To Treat Races Equally

Americans have little confidence in the police, according to a USA Today/Pew Research Center poll released on Tuesday. The survey found that most people think police departments don’t do a good job “holding officers accountable for misconduct, treating racial groups equally, and using the right amount of force.” But there are large racial and political divides when it comes to assessing police officers’ job performance.

The poll was conducted two weeks after Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was fatally shot six times by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

It found that 70 percent of blacks, 27 percent of whites, and 36 percent of all surveyed think that police departments across the country do a “poor” job of holding police officers accountable for their actions. When it comes to treating racial and ethnic groups equally, 70 percent of blacks, 25 percent of whites, and 33 percent in total think that police do a “poor” job. Similarly, 57 percent of blacks, 23 percent of whites, and 30 percent overall think that police departments do a “poor” job of using the proper amount of force.

Though whites view the police in a far more positive light than black respondents, only 37 percent of whites think that police departments do an “excellent” or “good” job of holding officers accountable, and 38 percent think that they do an “excellent” or “good” job of treating different races and ethnicities equally.

But the numbers are very different when it comes to assessing local police forces. Whites are almost twice as likely (72 percent of whites vs. 36 percent of blacks) to say that they have confidence in their police forces to treat whites and blacks equally. These numbers are very similar to the results from a 2009 survey asking the same question. The percentage of blacks who say they have “very little” confidence that police will treat them equally has increased from 34 percent in 2009 to 46 percent today.

There’s also a divide (74 percent of whites vs. 36 percent of blacks) when it comes to confidence that local police departments won’t use excessive force. More than half surveyed, and 60 percent of whites, say they are comfortable with police departments using military equipment and weapons, but 68 percent of blacks say that they have “not too much” or “no” confidence at all in police.

A large political gap also exists on police performance, which the pollsters say may be influenced by the “highly negative views of black Democrats.” Most Democrats (73 percent) think police departments only do a “fair” or “poor” job of holding officers accountable for misconduct, compared to 52 percent of Republicans who agree. Though black Democrats are far more likely than white Democrats to be critical of police accountability, white Democrats are more critical than Republicans overall. Young people are also overwhelmingly more critical of the police than those aged 50 and older.

The poll also found that most respondents (69 percent total, 75 percent of whites, and 64 percent of blacks) think that blacks and whites get along “very well.” But fewer blacks think so than in 2009.

AFP Photo/Michael B. Thomas

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Employer Health Costs To Rise Nearly 9 Percent This Year, Survey Finds

Employer Health Costs To Rise Nearly 9 Percent This Year, Survey Finds

By Chad Terhune, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES—Employer health care costs are expected to rise nearly 9 percent in 2014, a slight improvement over recent years, according to a new survey.

However, that modest decline doesn’t offer much relief to companies and their employees, who are seeing health insurance costs take a bigger bite out of their paychecks.

“Even though the decline is good news, most (health) plan sponsors still find 8 percent to 9 percent cost increases unsustainable,” said Harvey Sobel, a principal at Buck Consultants, a benefits consulting company that surveyed 126 insurers and health plan administrators nationwide.

Those companies surveyed provide health benefits to 119 million people.

The report released Thursday found that costs for preferred-provider organization, or PPO, plans are expected to rise 8.7 percent this year. That’s down from 9 percent last year.

HMO plans should increase 8.6 percent, down just slightly from the previous year, according to Buck Consultants.

Some insurers surveyed cited patients’ lower use of medical care as the primary reason for the decreases.

“This may be a result of the economic slowdown and its impact on consumers’ willingness to seek medical treatment,” Sobel said.

Overall, U.S. health care spending has been growing at historically low levels from 2009 to 2012, federal data show.

Many health economists and industry officials have attributed the slowdown primarily to lingering effects of the Great Recession, when millions of Americans cut back on medical care.

But the Obama administration and other experts have pointed to fundamental changes in health care reimbursement and the delivery of care spurred by the Affordable Care Act.

Even with the slowdown, the rise in health premiums continues to outpace inflation and wage growth.

For 2013, the average total cost for a family health plan rose 4 percent to $16,351, according to a closely watched survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust.

The typical employee’s share of that premium was $4,565, up about 6 percent from 2012. But the employer’s share of the premium increased just 3 percent, a further sign that employers continue to shift more medical costs onto their workers.

Photo: ProgressOhio via Flickr