Trump's inauguration, books, and AI
Welcome to YouGov's weekly newsletter The Surveyor, with new polling data, insights, and charts on politics, life, and other topical issues — from our U.S. News team.
This week, we're spotlighting surveys about Donald Trump's inauguration and new term as president, government corruption, AI, reading, and DNA tests.
Trump's Inauguration
Monday kicked off Donald Trump's second term as president, and YouGov snap polls taken in the immediate aftermath of Trump's inauguration ceremony show a public that continues to be divided over Trump and his plans.
46% of U.S. adults say they saw Trump's inauguration more as a political celebration by Trump's supporters, while 35% say it was more a celebration by all Americans of democracy in action. 60% of Republicans and 14% of Democrats say the inauguration was a celebration by all Americans, while 28% of Republicans and 70% of Democrats say it was a political celebration by Trump supporters.
Most Americans, whatever their party identity, expect Trump to act the same way as president that he did as a candidate, including 66% of U.S. adults, 66% of Democrats, and 75% of Republicans. Only 17% of Americans expect Trump will act differently.
Follow YouGov America on X, Bluesky, and Threads for more updates on how Americans are responding to the new Trump administration in coming days.
Reading inequality
Setting aside politics, let's talk about something else that splits Americans: reading books.
As 2024 drew to a close, YouGov asked Americans how many books they read in the past year — just like we did in 2023. We also threw in questions about the types of books people read (both genres and formats), how many books people own, and how much they use a library.
Andrew Van Dam, the "Department of Data" columnist at The Washington Post, wrote up the survey results for his column last week. You should check out Van Dam's article for a full rundown of the survey.
But I wanted to highlight one particular wonky aspect of the data for you, our loyal subscribers!
A key takeaway is that most Americans don't read very many books. About 38% of U.S. adult citizens say they didn't read or listen to any books last year, while 62% of U.S. adult citizens read at least one book. And most Americans who did read books read just a few of them — 28% of U.S. adult citizens read 1 to 4 books, while 14% read 5 to 9.
If your 2024 book count was in the double digits, congrats — you're a top 20% book reader. If you read 20 or more books, you're in the top 10%, by volume. (I read 14 books last year.)
But many people who are into reading are really into reading. The median American adult citizen read two books all year; some hard-core readers might sometimes read two books in a single day!
And with survey data like YouGov collected about reading, we can quantify this imbalance — what one might term reading inequality.
Only about 4% of Americans said they read 50 or more books. If we make the conservative assumption that each of these people read exactly 50 books, then that means that these 4% alone accounted for at least 28% of all the reading done in the U.S. last year. That's more books read or listened to than the total among 80% of U.S. adult citizens put together! (The 38% who read no books, plus the 28% who read 1 to 4 books and the 14% who read 5 to 9 books.)
All told, the top 20% of U.S. readers read at least 75% of all the books read by U.S. adult citizens last year.
And the number is probably higher than that, since this exercise assumed the top readers read 50 books each. But realistically, the average number of books read by this top cohort is probably more than 50, the lowest possible number of books they said they read. If this group read an average of 75 books each, for example, then they accounted for 37% of all reading, and the top 20% for 78%. (When we re-run this survey at the end of 2025, I intend to ask these heavy readers a follow-up, letting them specify the exact number of books they read, instead of just saying "50 or more.")
Now, if you're really nerdy, this chart is going to ring all sorts of bells. Because one common mathematical relationship that shows up in data all the time is called the "80/20 rule," which states that in many cases, around 80% of the results will be due to around 20% of causes.
Once you know to look for it, this kind of distribution (more generally called a "power law") shows up everywhere — word usage, city populations, scientific citations, and copies of books sold, among others. In all these cases, like with our 2024 reading data, you have a small number of really large examples (common words, big cities, heavily cited papers, best-selling books) and then a "long tail" of smaller examples (rare words, small towns, obscure papers, poorly selling books).
A "power" law distribution with a spike on one side and a long tail on the other contrasts with other common distributions, such as the normal distribution or bell curve — where the median outcome is also the most common and extreme outcomes become less likely — or with a continuous uniform distribution, where most outcomes are equally common.
This also shows up in measures of income inequality, where the top-earning households receive a disproportionate share of all income earned. One common statistic for measuring income inequality is the Gini coefficient, calculated on a scale from 0 to 1, where 0 represents perfect equality (everyone earns the same income), and 1 represents perfect inequality (one person earns all the money).
In 2021, the U.S. Gini coefficient for income was 0.56 before accounting for taxes and transfers, or 0.44 after taxes and transfers.
The Gini coefficient for number of books read in 2024: 0.72.
— David Montgomery
Charting opinions
How Americans are rethinking their lives — and the country — ahead of Trump's second term
30% of Democrats say the election has affected their relationships with friends or family, compared to only 18% of Republicans. Some Democrats say Trump's win has influenced their sex life or contraceptive decisions (17%), dating or marriage decisions (15%), and childbearing plans (15%) — in each case, greater shares than Republicans who say the same. (Taylor Orth)
Most Americans see corruption among politicians, judges, and executives as serious problems
Americans are most likely to view corruption as a very or somewhat serious problem among members of Congress, followed by U.S. presidents. Large shares also say there is a serious problem with corruption among CEOs, as well as executives in health care, finance, and the media. Additionally, many Americans see corruption as a serious problem within law enforcement and prison officials. (Taylor Orth)
Do Americans think AI will have a positive or negative impact on society?
While AI usage becomes increasingly common, many Americans have worries about its potential. About one-third (36%) of Americans are very or somewhat concerned that artificial intelligence will cause the end of the human race on earth — fewer than in April 2023. Among people who know a great deal about AI, 49% are concerned about this. (Jamie Ballard)
Quick takes
DNA tests: 21% of Americans — including 28% of seniors, 18% of adults under 30, and Lizzo — have taken a DNA test
Havana: Some officials are concerned about "Havana syndrome," alleged medical symptoms experienced by U.S. government employees abroad that some allege may be a weapon of some sort; 66% of Americans have never heard of it
Mideast: 50% of Americans support the recent ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas; 7% are opposed and 43% aren't sure
Sleep: 59% of Americans say they typically get at least seven hours of sleep per night
Elsewhere
Polling partnerships
The Economist + YouGov on the incoming Trump administration, the outgoing Biden administration, the economy, wildfires, and race relations
Polling abroad
Polling in the press
Why Trump is getting more popular (ABC News/538)
There’s a very popular explanation for Trump’s win. It’s wrong. (Vox)
Who are the top readers for 2024? And where did they get their books? (Washington Post)
Men think they're doing their share of housework. They're not. (The Week)
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This newsletter is compiled by David Montgomery and Carl Bialik.