Are we cool?

Surveys about coolness, the planets, the proposed White House ballroom, free speech, Jimmy Kimmel, passports, and interest rates.

“I think I’m cool. That’s all that matters.” — Tyler, The Creator

More Americans think they’re at least somewhat cool than think they’re not, a new YouGov poll finds.

We asked Americans a simple question: How cool do you think you are? 16% say they’re very cool, 39% say they’re somewhat cool, 24% say they’re not very cool, and 12% say they’re not at all cool. Overall, 56% of Americans say they’re at least somewhat cool, while 35% say they’re not that cool. 9% aren’t sure if they’re cool.

Younger adults are more likely to say they’re cool than are older adults: 65% of adults under 30 say they’re at least somewhat cool, compared to 62% of 30- to 44-year-olds, 52% of 45- to 64-year-olds, and 45% of those 65 and older.

Black Americans are especially likely to say they’re cool: 79% say they’re at least somewhat cool, compared to 65% of Hispanic Americans and 50% of white Americans. 35% of Black Americans say they’re very cool, while only 20% of Hispanic Americans and 11% of white Americans say the same about themselves.

Parents are more likely than non-parents to say they’re cool: 64% of those with kids under 18 say they’re at least somewhat cool, compared to 54% of non-parents. This isn’t just a function of age — people 65 and older are least likely of the four major age groups to say they’re cool and least likely to be parents or guardians of children under 18. But within each of the three major age groups of adults younger than 65 — those under 30, 30- to 44-year-olds, and 45- to 64-year-olds — parents of children under 18 are more likely than non-parents to describe themselves as cool.

Democrats and Republicans are about equally likely to describe themselves as cool: 59% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans say they’re at least somewhat cool.

We also asked Americans how cool they think other people think they are. Slightly more Americans think they’re at least somewhat cool (56%) than to think other people think they’re at least somewhat cool (52%). There’s a lot of overlap: 80% of those who say they’re at least somewhat cool also think other people regard them that way.

Adults under 45 are more likely to think they’re cool than to think others think they’re cool. Older adults are more likely to think they’re not very cool or not at all cool than to think others think they’re uncool.

Across ages and racial groups, Americans are more likely to say they’re cool now than to say they were cool in high school: 56% of U.S. adult citizens say they’re at least somewhat cool now, and 43% say they were at least somewhat cool in high school. And this gap isn’t just a product of people being less sure of their coolness a long time ago: Americans are about equally likely to say they’re unsure of their coolness now as in high school. The gap in self-rated coolness between now and high school is small for those 65 and older (45% vs. 41%), but larger for younger adults who were in high school more recently: 65% of adults under 30 say they’re cool now, while just 43% say they were cool in high school.

But how much does any of this matter? Many Americans insist they don’t care about being cool. 42% profess the very cool position that being cool is not at all important to them, while 31% say being cool is not very important. Only 7% say being cool is very important, and 15% say it’s somewhat important.

Americans who say they’re cool are far more likely to say coolness is important than are those who say they’re not cool. 51% of those who say they’re very cool say coolness is at least somewhat important, compared to 30% of those who say they’re somewhat cool, 5% of those who say they’re not very cool, and 3% of those who say they’re not at all cool.

But while most Americans insist they don’t care about being cool, they’re more likely to say people they know think being cool is important. While 22% say they find coolness at least somewhat important, 42% say people they know do. 74% of Americans say being cool isn’t very or at all important, but only 44% think other people think that.

Both people who think they’re cool and those who don’t are more likely to perceive other people as caring about coolness than they do.

We’ve got lots more data on coolness to share with you, but that will have to wait for next week. In the meantime, I wanted to leave you with a teaser. We asked Americans how cool they think 36 different celebrities — actors, singers, athletes, politicians, and more — are.

Below is a redacted version of the results. We’ve highlighted eight of the rows, which contain the results for (in alphabetical order by first name) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bad Bunny, Elon Musk, Kanye West, Samuel L. Jackson, Serena Williams, Taylor Swift, and Zendaya.

Leave us a comment with your guesses as to which celebrity corresponds to which row number! If anyone gets them all right, we’ll feature you next week when we share the results.

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Charting opinions

Americans’ favorite planet other than Earth? It’s Mars

Americans’ favorite planet — other than Earth, not included in the question — is Mars: 19% say this is their favorite planet, including 27% of men and 13% of women. Fewer Americans say their favorite is Saturn (14%), Jupiter (8%), Pluto (7%), or Venus (6%); 38% aren’t sure. (Pluto was included as a response option despite being reclassified to a dwarf planet from full-fledged planet 20 years ago.) (Jamie Ballard)

Quick takes

• Ballroom: 12% of Americans think Trump’s biggest motivation for building a new White House ballroom is security, 13% say hospitality, and 47% say his legacy. Most Democrats say his legacy (3% vs. 3% vs. 66%), while Republicans are closely divided between the three options (26% vs. 27% vs. 27%)

• Free speech: Between the two major parties, 28% of Americans say the Democratic Party poses a bigger threat to free speech, 42% say the Republican Party does, and 18% say both pose equal threats

• Kimmel: 29% of Americans say comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s comment that Melania Trump had “a glow like an expectant widow” is unacceptable and that he should be fired, while while 16% say it was unacceptable but that Kimmel shouldn’t be fired, and 38% say it was acceptable

• Passports: 18% of Americans — including 3% of Democrats, 10% of Independents, and 40% of Republicans — say they would choose a U.S. passport with an image of Donald Trump in it if given the choice, while 67% — including 92% of Democrats, 73% of Independents, and 37% of Republicans — would choose a passport without Trump’s image

• Interest rates: The next time the Federal Reserve is setting interest rates, 26% want it to cut rates by more than half a percentage point, while 11% want a half-point rate cut, 6% a smaller cut, 16% no change to interest rates, and 4% an increase in interest rates

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Elsewhere

Polling partnerships

• Economist + YouGov on Trump job approval, partisan gerrymandering, and the political parties

• CBS + YouGov on the California governor’s race

• Times + YouGov on the American Dream: a surge to socialism, Dolly Parton, and Americans sounding British

Polling abroad

• Should Canada be allowed to join the European Union? (YouGov UK)

Polling in the press

• Voters say they want young candidates. In practice, they do not (Economist)

• Public rejects Trump’s ballroom by wide margin (Washington Post)

• Americans want the government to spend more on social programs and less on the military (FiftyPlusOne)

• SpaceX’s compensation plan for Musk is partially tied to creating a permanent human colony on Mars, America’s favorite planet (Sherwood News)

• I used National Poetry Month to confront my fear of cringe | Opinion (USA Today)

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Carl Bialik contributed to this newsletter.