One-Third Of American Millennials Believe The Earth Is Flat

Millennials in America sometimes get a bad reputation, this time for good reason. A recent survey found that just 66 percent of young adults aged 18 to 24 years old have "always believed the world is round." YouGov polled 8,215 US adults on February 8th, 2018 to get a representative idea of America's views on the shape of the Earth.

What they found would make any scientist shake their heads, a surprising percentage of responders weren't convinced the Earth is round. The question asked individuals to categorize their thoughts surrounding the shape of the Earth into one of the five buckets below:

1.      I have always believed the world is round

2.      I always thought the world is round, but more recently I am skeptical/have doubts

3.     I always thought the world is flat, but more recently I am skeptical/have doubts

4.    I have always believed the world is flat

5.     Other/Not sure

Breakdown of Americans, broken down by age, who believe the Earth is flat, round, or, skeptical, or unsure. YOUGOV SURVEY

The survey found that 2% of Americans firmly believe the Earth is flat, with interesting differences segmented by age, religion, income, and political affiliation. Of the thousands of American adults surveyed, the percent that always believed the Earth is round decreased with younger generations.

In total, 84% of Americans responded that they believe the Earth is round. While the large majority believe the world is round, young millennials aged 18 to 24 are more likely to subscribe to the flat Earth belief (4%). Religious beliefs appear to be correlated with one's likelihood to subscribe to a flat Earth. YouGov found that 52 percent of flat earthers consider themselves "very religious."

Most flat Earth believers are also "very religious"

YOUGOV POLL

The degree to which Americans, particularly those who are very religious and/or a millennial is troubling on many levels. Are millennials sourcing their beliefs from sports stars such as Kyrie Irving, who regularly claims the Earth is flat? Or is there an underlying disbelief of science that is fueling their rejection of a spherical world? It's hard to know for sure the underlying causes prompting a belief in a flat Earth for different segments of Americans.

Robin Andrews with IFLScience pointed out that staunch religious conservatives tend to hold a disbelief in science and are unwilling to support scientific research and findings. Comparing religious beliefs, YouGov found that Democrats are slightly less likely to believe the Earth is round than Republicans (83 versus 89 percent, respectively).

comparison of income level versus flat Earth beliefs.

YOUGOV POLL

This, perhaps, could be an overprint of younger generations more likely to lean Democratic and older generations more likely to lean Republican. While YouGov didn't find a significant variation in flat Earth beliefs geographically, they did find a significant variation based on income level. The survey found that those with an income less than $40,000 (79%) are much less likely to believe the world is round compared to those with an income over $80,000 (92%).