The good old days

Whether nostalgia or bad memory or politicians, you may be wrong about "the good old days," crime, climate, income gaps, etc.

"According to a YouGov poll last year, between 21 percent and 45 percent of respondents across the Western world thought that climate change “likely” or “quite likely” will make the human race extinct. At the same time, both the absolute numbers and the proportion of people dying from natural catastrophes like storms, floods, droughts, or wildfires has plummeted over the last century – and that includes all kinds of natural disasters (such as earthquakes and tsunamis) not just the ones that climate change may have worsened."

https://www.humanprogress.org/nothing-is-more-responsible-for-the-good-old-days-than-a-bad-memory/?

A few years ago I recall a report that asked people what percent of the population was homosexual, and many guessed 20-25%. The correct answer was a little over 2%. But it was the topics and characters of films, books and TV programs that caused them to make that wrong estimate. There are some people who think 50% of people who get Covid19 die (99.75% recover).  I think 24/7 news and social media are worsening our memories.

Can you trust political polls? Not many do.

Just 26% of Likely U.S. Voters say they trust most political polls. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 55% do not trust most political polls. Nineteen percent (19%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Thirty-seven percent (37%) rate the current polling on political issues and events as worse than it has been in the past. Only 11% say polling is better now. Forty-six percent (46%) think it’s about the same.
Just one-out-of-three voters (35%) believe most pollsters are interested in reporting the attitudes of Americans in an unbiased manner when they poll on Trump. Forty-three percent (43%) think most pollsters are trying to block the president from passing his agenda. Just 12% say most are trying to help the president pass that agenda instead.

Not surprisingly, given how wrong most pollsters were about the outcome of the presidential election, 64% of Republicans think most pollsters are trying to block Trump’s agenda, a view shared by 42% of unaffiliated voters but only 24% of Democrats.