What are your earliest memories?
Surveys about childhood memories, electric cars, AI therapists, Iran, antisocialness, movies, the FIFA World Cup halftime show, data centers, phone use at night, and baby names.
What’s the earliest thing you remember? We at YouGov asked Americans, and found that representative answers include childhood toys, quiet moments with parents, and distinctive sights, sounds, and physical sensations.
But for many Americans, what they remember from childhood isn’t very much. 3% of Americans say they don’t remember anything from when they were 16, and 52% say they remember only a little. 41% remember a lot from when they were 16.
Memories from age six are rarer. 24% of Americans say they remember nothing from when they were six, while 59% remember a little and only 9% say they remember a lot.
Most Americans (61%) say that overall, their childhood memories are predominantly positive; 13% say they’re mostly negative. 17% say their childhood memories are neither mostly positive nor mostly negative.
Older Americans are more likely than younger adults to say their childhood memories are mostly positive: 65% of those 45 and older say this, compared to 57% of adults under 45.
There’s also a split on childhood memories based on political ideology. While majorities of Americans across the political spectrum say their childhood memories are mostly positive, the share is lowest among very liberal Americans. 52% of them say their childhood memories are mostly positive and 21% say they’re mostly negative. That’s much less positive than Americans who are liberal but not very liberal (67% vs. 11%), moderates (58% vs. 13%), conservatives who aren’t very conservative (68% vs. 10%), and those who are very conservative (69% vs. 12%).
Younger adults are more likely than older Americans to say they remember a lot from their childhood — but only by a little. 47% of adults under 30 say they remember a lot from when they were 16, compared to 39% of older Americans.
We found much more variation when looking at differences between Americans who closely follow the news and those who don’t. 49% of Americans who say they follow what’s going on in government and public affairs most of the time say they remember a lot from when they were 16, compared to only 26% of those who hardly ever follow government news. (Like with all the connections between childhood memories and other personal characteristics, it’s unclear whether one factor is causing the other or if some third factor contributes to both.)
Americans who say their childhood memories are mostly positive are more likely to say they remember a lot from when they were 16 (47%) than those whose memories are mostly negative (39%) or those who say their childhood memories are neither positive nor negative (33%).
See the full results of this poll:
As part of a new product at YouGov, we went beyond just asking Americans these questions, which were the same for each respondent and showed a set of fixed options for each. We also used YouGov’s new AI Interviewer to have open-ended conversations with some of the respondents about their earliest childhood memories. Each interview started with a simple open-ended question, with the same text for each respondent, just as surveys have used for decades. In this case, the opening question for everyone was, “To start us off, what is the earliest thing you can remember?” But the AI Interviewer can ask follow-ups, nudging respondents to explain more or put their answers in context.
For example, a woman in her 60s with mostly positive childhood memories said her earliest memory is flying in an airplane as a two-year-old. In response to follow-up questions, she explained how the feel of the airplane’s taking off and landing sticks in her mind — as does the memory of “running up and down the aisles of the plane (I was not restricted by seatbelts!).”
A 30-something man said his childhood memories are neither mostly positive nor mostly negative, but that he clearly remembers playing Super Mario World after getting it for Christmas at age five. “I remember I was hesitant about it at first as I had no experience with video games before then but I gradually warmed up to it and eventually really enjoyed it,” he said after being asked to share more. To this day, he said, Super Mario World “is the reason why I like video games.”
YouGov used an AI agent to classify the 1,129 conversations. It found common themes in these earliest memories include vivid sensory details and special rituals with parents. For example, a man in his 60s remembers sitting at the dinner table squishing peas between his fingers. “I remember Momma being not happy about it but not being angry either,” he said after being asked for more details. “I remember thinking the peas felt good going between my fingers.”
Negative emotions such as childhood fear or family disruptions are less common but still present in a significant share of responses. For example, a man in his 30s whose childhood memories are mostly positive said his earliest memory is getting separated from his parents in a store as a three-year-old. “I was looking at something in a clothing rack and decided to go inside the clothing rack. When I got outside of the rack my mom and dad were gone and I was panicking,” he said. “I think fear stuck with me because it was such a shocking feeling compared to happiness or comfort.”
Charting opinions
Americans are becoming less likely to see gas cars as cheaper to buy and maintain than electric cars
71% of Americans currently own a gas or diesel vehicle; far fewer own hybrid (6%), electric (3%), or plug-in hybrid vehicles (2%). The share of Americans who believe gas cars are cheaper to buy than electric ones has fallen to 68% from 76% in November 2025. Americans are also less likely now to say gas cars are more affordable to maintain (47% now vs. 58% in November). In September 2024, a higher percentage of Americans (44%) said gas cars were safer to operate than electric ones. (Jamie Ballard)
Americans are increasingly concerned about AI exacerbating mental health problems
Two-thirds (66%) of Americans are uncomfortable with the idea of working with an AI therapist if they were seeking therapy rather than having an in-person visit, including 49% who say they would be very uncomfortable. 23% say they would be very (8%) or somewhat (16%) comfortable working with an AI therapist.
Adults under 30 are about twice as likely as older Americans to say they would be comfortable working with an AI therapist (37% vs. 20%). (Jamie Ballard)
Quick takes
Iran: 13% of Americans say the U.S. has won its war with Iran, while 22% say the U.S. hasn’t won yet but will, and 39% say the U.S. hasn’t won and won’t win
Antisocial: 22% of Americans consider themselves to be antisocial, and 66% say they’re not antisocial
Movies: 44% of Americans say it’s more pleasant to watch movies at home than in the theater, while 16% say the theater is more enjoyable and 34% say both are equally enjoyable
Halftime: This year’s FIFA World Cup final will for the first time feature a halftime show, a controversial development in the world of soccer — and one that a majority of Americans just don’t care about. 58% of Americans say they don’t care about the possibility of FIFA lengthening the halftime break to accommodate a show, while 19% strongly or somewhat approve and 13% disapprove
Data centers: 22% of Americans say the construction of data centers is very or mostly positive for the U.S., while 47% say it’s very or mostly negative
Baby names: Among the top 10 baby boys’ names in the U.S. last year, James and Noah are the top picks of Americans (15% each). For girls’ names, Emma (12%) narrowly beats Mia, Evelyn, and Isabella (11% each)
Nighttime phone use: 29% of adults under 30 always use their cellphone in the 10 minutes before they fall asleep, while only 7% of Americans 65 and older do
Elsewhere
Polling partnerships
Economist + YouGov on Trump approval and AI
CBS News + YouGov on Trump, politics, and the economy
Polling abroad
Polling in the press
Opinion | Trump Is Wasting Our Time (New York Times)
A split on the right: Ban abortion nationwide or leave it to the states? (Washington Post)
You can’t gerrymander a bad approval rating (Strength In Numbers | G. Elliott Morris’s Substack)
They were tired of being asked, ‘What’s for dinner?’ every night. So they got a food divorce. (Yahoo Life)
An AI hate wave is here (Axios)
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Carl Bialik contributed to this newsletter.