I get regular emails from various web sites. They generally (and wrongly, I think) call them “newsletters”. One of them comes to me from Rasmussen Reports, a polling company. Polls are interesting to me because they are supposed to reveal how the public thinks and identify trends. Whether they do or don't, I have no real idea. I could examine the polls in detail (the questions, the statistics, the modality, etc) but I have no background in statistical data gathering. I tend to take poll results as “implied truth” and subject to interpretation.
In any event, I signed up to get these updates from Rasmussen. Primarily because the free updates are informative enough.
I received one the other day which polled people on car buying and usage. The headline grabbed my attention: For 53% of Adults, Driving is Strictly for Getting Around.
Following the link, I learned that 43% really enjoy driving. And, broken down by sex (which I have been from time to time... but I digress), it turns out that 53% of men like to drive and 59% of women don't.
The survey didn't get into that aspect so much but I thought the reason behind it might be that men like to be in control while women do not. I would not have guessed the above is true based upon personal experience. I have known many girls and women who loved to drive and who liked the fact that they were in control while doing so. I have also known many men and boys who would just as soon someone else drove.
I am not one who easily cedes that control which comes from being the driver. I am a terrible passenger though I do try to keep my mouth shut and my whimpering to a minimum. I am not always successful. I know people who can sleep while someone else drives. I cannot do that. That I blame on a specific trip I took with my then brother-in-law when I was 17. He cured me of sleeping by going off the road twice in less than 15 minutes while I nodded off against the passenger side window.
I have loved to drive ever since I learned how. I would take my old beat up `52 Studebaker and wander around for hours on various roads. Gas was cheap then. I never got lost because I never had a destination in mind. This willingness to just roam was likely initiated by the Sunday drives my father would take us on. He never seemed to have any destination in mind either. We'd wander all over Long Island, it seemed, much of which was quite rural in those days.
Getting back to that survey, I thought you might be interested in the questions asked. They are:
1- How likely are you to buy or lease a car in the next year?
2- (Answered only by those who are at least somewhat likely to buy a car in the next year - 250 Adults) Will you get a new car or a used car?
3- (Answered only by those who are at least somewhat likely to buy a car in the next year - 250 Adults) How likely are you to consider buying a car from the Ford Motor Company?
4- (Answered only by those who are at least somewhat likely to buy a car in the next year - 250 Adults) How likely are you to consider buying a car from General Motors?
5- (Answered only by those who are at least somewhat likely to buy a car in the next year - 250 Adults) How likely are you to consider buying a car from Chrysler?
6- When you purchase your next automobile, how likely is it that you will buy a hybrid car?
7* How likely is it that you will buy an electric car within the next decade?
8* Are you more likely to buy an electric car because it’s good for the environment or because of high gas prices?
9* Is driving a car something you really enjoy or just something you do to get from one place to another?
Seems to me that the headline wasn't an accurate description.
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