JUST A THIRD OF AMERICANS KNOW THE POPULATION OF THEIR COUNTRY
 
E-MAIL ETIQUETTE STICKLER: DON’T FORWARD
THAT CHAIN MAIL!
 
KILL A FAVORITE PET FOR A MILLION BUCKS?  
NO WAY, SAY 83 PERCENT

     NEW YORK, N.Y. — Ninety-four percent of Americans couldn’t come up with the real first name of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, while 66 percent didn’t know the correct population of the country they live in. Chain e-mails are not a favorite of America’s e-mailers, who say forwarding them is bad etiquette. And Fluffy and Spot are priceless to the vast majority, who say they wouldn’t kill their favorite pet for a million dollars. Those are some of the insights contained in this month’s 60MINUTES/Vanity Fair Poll, the results of which can be found in the February edition of Vanity Fair and on 60Minutes.com and VF.com. Go to the poll.
 
     The poll also asked Americans about people who don’t vaccinate their children, the most important phrase to know in a foreign country, and the version of their life stories parents would tell their kids.
 
     It’s Willard! But only 6 percent of all those polled knew that to be Romney’s real first name. Political party affiliation didn’t matter either, as many Republicans and Democrats (both 20 percent) and Independents (19 percent) thought Mitt was his real name. A similar percentage among all (18 percent) picked Mitchell and 8 percent chose Milton. Forty-four percent said they didn’t know.  
 
     The population of the United States is currently estimated at over 312 million, a fact just a third of Americans know, with only 34 percent correctly picking the approximate number of 300 million. Most thought the country’s population was much higher, either one billion (28 percent) or 500 million (23 percent). Older and more educated Americans had a better handle, with 43 percent of those over 65 and 49 percent of respondents with a college degree correctly picking the 300 million figure.  
 
     The chain e-mail habit should be broken, say American computer users. Thirty-two percent picked “Don’t forward chain e-mails” when asked to identify their “most important rule of e-mail etiquette.” Irony in an e-mail is another pet peeve, with 20 percent among all respondents choosing “Don’t be ironic.” Two other choices, “Keep it short or just call” and “Don’t hit ‘Reply All’ just to say ‘thanks’” each drew 11 percent.
 
     America’s pets remain among the most cherished in the world. The vast majority (83 percent) of people polled say they would not kill their favorite pet for a million dollars, but 11 percent said they would, and 23 percent said most of the people they know would kill a pet for that kind of cash.
 
     The poll also found that 67 percent of Americans think parents who do not have their children vaccinated are “naïve,” 38 percent believe “Thank you” is the most important phrase to know in a non-English-speaking country’s language when traveling there, and 49 percent choose “Full and Unabridged” as the version of their life story they would tell their kids.
 
     The February issue of Vanity Fair will be available on newsstands in New York and L.A. on January 4, and nationally and on the iPad, Nook, and Kindle on Jan. 10.
 
     The 60 MINUTES/Vanity Fair Poll is a monthly measure of the American conversation on a range of topics rather than one specific subject. Geared to offer a wide-angle view of the country every 30 days, the questions explore attitudes on culture, lifestyle, current events, and politics. 60 MINUTES and Vanity Fair work together to formulate topics and questions; the poll is conducted by the CBS News Election and Survey Unit, a high-profile source of American opinion since 1969.    
 

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Press Contacts:
Kevin Tedesco, 212-975-2329, kev@cbsnews.com
Beth Kseniak, 212-286-7297, beth_kseniak@condenast.com

This poll was conducted at the CBS News interviewing facility among a random sample of 951 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone Nov. 18-21, 2011. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard landline and cell phones.  The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus 3percentage points.  The error for subgroups is higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.