Poll finds Americans say they would rather be richer than smarter,thinner or younger

NEW YORK - Carol Forsloff - The
Harris poll asked Americans if given a choice would they rather be
richer, thinner, smarter or younger, and a plurality of 43% maintained
they would want to be richer.


Those
who think Americans accent material wealth have evidence in a new
Adweek Media/Harris poll survey of 2,163 adults surveyed between July 27
and 29, 2010 by Harris interactive.

The
findings are broken down like this according to survey results:  One in
five (21%) Americans said they would like to be thinner, 14% said
smarter and 12% said younger. One in ten (9%) said they would not want
to choose any of the given options.

Differences
by gender were reflected in a variety of ways with men saying they
would choose to be richer at 46% of those surveyed, compared to 41% for
women.  29% of women would choose to be thinner, with only 14% of men.
In some ways this corresponds to the values men and women place on
different attributes, with women concerned about appearance and men
about earning a living, making money and success.

Older
people want to be younger, with 19% of those over 55 saying so,
compared to 12% of those 35 -44.  Young adults want to have more money.

Researchers
say in conclusion, as underlining one of the independent attitudes of
most Americans: "They all want these things, however, not from some
fairy godmother but by making smart choices, hard work and dedication. "
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These are the specific results:


Male Female 18-34 35-44 45-54 55
---- ------ ----- ----- ----- ---
% % % % % % %
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Richer 43 46 41 50 53 41 34
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Thinner 21 14 29 23 15 24 22
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Smarter 14 14 14 16 12 14 13
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Younger 12 16 8 4 12 14 19
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None of these 9 9 9 6 8 8 12
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C