Hollywood vs. D.C.: Battle of Public Perception

A recent survey by Statista Consumer Insights first of all shows that few Americans have expectations towards national politicians. Only around a third of respondents between the ages of 18 and 64 agreed most recently that national politicians should be role models and that they should speak out about social issues.

It is surprising, however, that Americans expect about the same level of engagement from actors - sometimes even slightly more. 37 percent in the survey said actors should be role modes, two percentage points above the rate for national politicians. For speaking out on social issues, the results were 31 percent for actors and 35 percent for national politicians.

The people Americans saw as owing the biggest debt to society were world leaders. 39 percent and 38 percent said they should be role models and should be involved in social issues, respectively.

Only 26 percent of Americans feel like they were well informed on national politicians. The rate was slightly lower at 24 percent for actors. Hollywood gossip was still considered more rich than scandals coming out of Washington D.C, but was only ahead by 5 percentage point for the share of people saying that they followed one or the other.