Poll: Americans skeptical of commercial drones...

[keensg]

Sometimes you need to look behind the headlines to find the truth.

The byline being passed around by the press is: "By a 2-1 margin, those who had an opinion opposed using drones for commercial purposes. Only 21 percent favored commercial use of drones, compared with 43 percent opposed. Another 35 percent were in the middle."

Now the statement itself is a little strange because the poll has 43% oppose, 21% favor and 35% neither favor or oppose - I suppose you could say twice as many people opposed rather than favored but that is a selective statistic.

http://ap-gfkpoll.com/featured/findings-from-our-latest-poll-10

http://ap-gfkpoll.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/AP-GfK_Poll_December_2014_Drones.pdf

Then if you delve into the poll it seems the public is actually very supportive of when they see as positive use of drones with 63% supportive for inspections and only 12% oppose. I would say there are very few topics in America you could get 86% of the population to agree on or be neutral on (I know, now I am using selective statistics).

Poll Question: "Would you favor, oppose or neither favor nor oppose allowing private operators to use small
drones for the following purposes?"

'Performing dangerous safety inspections, such as on oil platforms or bridges':

Favor: 63%
Neither favor or oppose: 23%
Oppose: 12%
Refuse: 2%

'Help map terrain through the use of aerial photography':

Favor: 57%
Neither favor or oppose: 29%
Oppose: 11%
Refuse: 3%

'Monitoring wildlife':

Favor: 55%
Neither favor or oppose: 29%
Oppose: 12%
Refuse: 3%

 

[Bartman]

Thank you for posting that! It's hard to imagine why someone would oppose allowing an unmanned aircraft to go up and do something productive or useful.

 

[Old Man]

Public perception of a "drone" is largely predicated upon what has been done with Predators and Reapers. Few favor the thought of remotely piloted aircraft armed with air to ground missiles roving around over their heads. How "drone" is presented/defined is everything in discussions with the public.