Just in time for spooky season, the results are in for the annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears (CSAF). Spearheaded by sociology professor Christopher Bader back in 2014, this marks Chapman’s ninth year conducting this survey. 

Here are the top 10 American Fears in 2023 which include the percentages of those who are either afraid or very afraid of these categories:

1. Corrupt government officials 60.1% 

2. Economic/financial collapse 54.7% 

3. Russia using nuclear weapons 52.5% 

4. The U.S. becoming involved in another World War 52.3% 

5. People I love becoming seriously ill 50.6% 

6. People I love dying 50.4% 

7. Pollution of drinking water 50% 

8. Biological warfare 49.5% 

9. Cyber-terrorism 49.3% 

10. 10. Not having enough money for the future 48%

The CSAF is conducted by the Ludie and David C. Henley Social Sciences Research Laboratory with the help of Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS), a market research firm. The survey is sent out online via the SSRS Opinion Panel to American adults. 

Data collection began on March 27 and concluded on April 4. 2,189 potential participants were recruited at random, and 1,014 people completed the survey. For more information on the CSAF’s methodology, click here.

Fear of corrupt government officials remains in the number one slot (60.1%) since 2015. Senior Henley Lab research fellow Mateo Guerrero is in his third year of contributing to CSAF, and he states that the fear of corrupt government officials keeps stealing first place because it is a fear Americans have regardless of political party for both Republicans and Democrats.

While the dread of Russia using nuclear weapons reigns in the third spot since 2022 (52.5%), the new second place fear of economic/financial collapse (54.7%) rose from its eighth rank last year, with a 1% fear percentage increase. 

“I would say (the rise in fear of economic/financial collapse) is related to an overall evaluation of the state of the economy, inflation and fears over a looming recession,” said Ann Gordon, an associate professor of political science in the Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. “And, it's also impacted by events such as bank failures like what we saw with Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.”

Gordon, who is also the director of the Henley Lab and co-principal investigator for CSAF, also works with Wilkinson associate professor Lemuel “Ed” Day on CSAF.

“We've noticed over time that the top 10 list, in particular, is really sensitive to the news cycle and economic news has been at the top of the list and was especially around the time that the survey was being taken,” Day said. 

Located in Wilkinson College’s Phyllis and Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art is a digital art installation that brings these fears to life. The art piece titled, “Pareidolia,” pulls from news data that aligns with the survey results and displays the correlating images and text onto four screens. As the news cycle continuously updates, the art generates new visuals. 

Day mentioned that categories shifting within the top 10 isn’t particularly alarming, however, when entire categories are dropped from or added to the top 10, it points to a major change in overall fears.

This year, the category of cyber-terrorism ranked ninth while the previous ninth rank of the fear of pollution of oceans, rivers and lakes fell out of the top 10. 

“l would say it's a matter of salience,” Gordon said. “So, cyber attacks have been on the rise, and they're striking everyone, from U.S. agencies like the Department of Energy to universities, hospitals and corporations. Millions of consumers have been impacted by data breaches, so the issue really hits home, and I would say that's why we're seeing it on the list.”

Gordon continued: “The first time that all five environmental fears that we ask about landed on the top 10 list was during the Trump administration when the White House was actively hostile to environmental concerns.”

The CSAF team is currently in the planning process for next year’s survey. 

“I would imagine that in the fear survey coming up, we're going to see everything in the top 10 above 50% again because that's where we're at in the news cycle right now,” Day said. “And, all the macro events are particularly hideous at the moment.”

Guerrero stated that every summer, students who conduct research for the survey are welcome to pitch ideas or questions they deem relevant for the upcoming survey. Most questions stay similar from survey to survey because of relevancy and in order to maintain consistency.

Once the data is collected, Henley Lab researchers analyze the results by comparing them to years past and then figuring out reasons for the various shifts.

“By interpreting the results, the Henley Lab members will compile the data and will compare the differences from one year to the year before,” Guerrero said. “Let's say fear of being unemployed goes up by a certain percent. We're going to compare both of those and see if it was substantial and then ask, ‘Why? Why is something like that going on? Are people losing jobs? Is there something going on with the economy?’”

Guerrero continued: “I kind of wanted to see what was going on in American society and the economy as to why people were so fearful. And so, I was able to break that down by different variables like gender, education, age (and) race.”

For the students involved in the research, Gordon allows them to choose the fears they wish to analyze. Guerrero utilized his two areas of study as a political science and business administration double major in his own research for CSAF by looking at the fear of having enough money for the future (48%).

“Interestingly enough, income doesn't play a factor in fear of not having enough money for the future, which you think income would have a direct factor,” Guerrero said. “The biggest factor of fear of not having enough money for the future was gender and education.”

He continued: “And so, that was something too that we're still kind of trying to analyze. But, income wasn't directly correlated. Different levels of income still had similar levels of fear, but it was women having more fear overall than men in any category. And then, the same was for education. Those that were less educated were more fearful than those that were more educated.”

Guerrero mentioned that the survey also reveals glimpses into the concerns of voters.

“A lot of people vote based solely on the economy or how the economy is doing,” Guerrero said. “And so, that's another driving factor. We're voting, and it can tell us a lot of things, or at least we can predict something about what's going to go on in the next presidential election.”

Currently, there is a lot of excitement surrounding CSAF for both faculty and the students involved.

“I can say that one of the things I'm most proud about is the number of times I see academic papers pop up of people I've never even heard of that are using the data,” Day said. “This survey is having an impact far beyond Chapman — far beyond us. People are using it in circumstances and for research outside of our disciplines, outside of our field (and) outside of the range of colleagues that we know. I just feel like we're contributing in ways that none of us ever even imagined that we would.”

Guerrero is hoping to present the CSAF results at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research in April 2024. 

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Ann Gordon is an associate dean in Wilkinson. Gordon is no longer an associate dean; rather, she is an associate professor of political science in Wilkinson. We regret the error.