Americans Prefer Dogs to Cats. Discuss
This is a Public Policy Polling, poll on Americans and pets. Pubic Policy Polling claim to produce, “highly accurate polling across the country”. A confident statement. Yet, while it is agreed that there are more cats in homes in America than dogs, the poll tells us that:
52% of Americans prefer dogs while just 21% prefer cats.
The Humane Society tells us that:
- 78.2 million – Number of owned dogs in the U.S — 1.7 is the average number of owned dogs per household
- 86.4 million – Number of owned cats in the U.S — 2.2 is the average number of owned cats per household
The Humane Society figures fly in the face of the figures produced by the Public Policy Polling business. I think the apparent discrepancy is because a lot of the people interviewed do not keep a pet so their preferences are not necessarily based on first hand or any experiences. They may have preconceptions. This would make the poll less reliable.
I don’t believe, therefore, that we can rely on them but in the interests of fair play and amusement here are some more figures from the Pubic Policy Polling poll on American pets:
| Percentage | Statistic |
| 44% | People who own dog(s) |
| 31% | People who own cat(s) |
| 77% | Cat owners who say that their cat is friendly towards visitors |
| 81% | People who like or love dogs |
| 58% | People who like or love cats |
| 2% | People allergic to dogs |
| 11% | People allergic to cats |
| 3% | People afraid of dogs |
| 5% | People afraid of cats |
| 23% | People who agree that cats owners are weirder than dog owners |
| 11% | People say cats make better pets than dogs because cats make you work for their affection and don’t sell out like dogs. |
| 37% | People say a dog would make a better president than a ? (presume other pets) based on their personality |
| 19% | People say a cat would make a better president than other pets based on personality |
| 31% | People who say their pet sleeps on their bed with them |
Comment:
- I have limited the stats to cats and dogs
- The cat appears to fair less well in this poll, which once again contradicts the cat population numbers and households who care for a cat.
- What is the saying? “Lies, damned lies, and statistics”. This well known phrase tells us to doubt statistics.
- Polls, too are notoriously weak on occasions. What was the sample size and where was the sample taken? I cannot see answers to these questions on the source page. It may there nonetheless.
Google “public policy polling dogs cats” to find the poll results on the internet.