4/84Forgeries discovered this year in the collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art: 45
11/84Percentage of American men who admit they wear uncomfortable shoes because they look good: 20
Percentage of American women who admit they wear uncomfortable shoes because they look good: 45
10/98Rank of “enemies” and the President, among people usually prayed for by Americans who say they pray: 4,5
4/86Percentage of white Americans who say peacetime military service is a “very important obligation”: 31
6/86Percentage increase in trade between China and the Soviet Union in 1985: 45
2/87Percentage of the racial incidents reported in Los Angeles County in 1985 whose targets were Asians: 15
4/87Number of manufacturing plants in Tennessee owned by Japanese companies: 45
5/88Percentage of South Koreans who ate named Kim, Lee, or Park: 45
6/88Percentage of all those killed or injured in terrorist bombings worldwide last year who were Pakistani: 45
10/88Percentage of Americans who have never heard of or have no opinion about Shimon Peres: 41
Percentage who have never heard of or have no opinion about P. W. Borha: 45
1/89Percentage of Palestinian journalists who have been questioned at least once by the Israeli government: 45
11/89Percentage of American college students who say that some races are “more evolved” than others: 45
12/89Percentage of Americans who said last year that they didn’t know enough about Dan Quayle to form an opinion: 25
2/91Minimum cost of a personalized romance novel, from Swan Publishing of Placentia, California: $45
6/91Number of U.S. law firms the federal government is suing for “violating their duties” to S&Ls they represented: 45
12/91Percentage of American adults under the age of 30 who say they “almost never” switch channels during commercials: 22
Percentage of Americans over the age of 60 who say this: 45
1/92Percentage of all American astronauts who were Boy Scouts: 45
3/91Number of Ph.D.’s hired last year to “develop” carrot sticks for McDonald’s: 45
10/92Percentage change, since Anita Hill’s testimony last fall, in sexual harassment complaints filed with the EEOC: +45
3/96Hours Shaquille O’Neal spent snowed in at a Pennsylvania hotel in January with the cast of Sesame Street on Ice: 45
1/97Percentage change since 1992 in the number of Latinos registered to vote in California: +45
9/97Percentage change since 1990 in the number of U.S. college students studying to be morticians: +45
11/99Number of consecutive days last spring that Michael Moore trained a camera on Lucianne Goldberg’s apartment: 45
2/00Projected age to which the AIDS epidemic will lower the life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa by next year: 45
8/01Amount the inventor of the yellow “smiley face” had received for it by the time of his death in April: $45
11/02Percentage of their assets that Zimbabwe’s private pension funds are required to invest in government treasury bills: 45
1/03Retail price Mattel suggests that toy stores assign its Lingerie Barbie, dressed in “merry widow” or “peek-a-boo” style: $45
3/03Number of Philadelphia’s public schools run by one of seven private-sector education management organizations: 45
5/03Percentage of Americans who believed in early March that Saddam Hussein was involved in the September 11 attacks: 45
Weeks before this poll was taken that President Bush said that he “can’t make [the] claim” of such a link: 5
4/05Estimated number of visitors each week to the grave of Harry Potter, a Briton buried in Israel in 1939: 45
2/06Minutes that the library in Malmö, Sweden, “lent” a gay man and a Muslim cleric for conversation last fall: 45
11/06Estimated percentage of “illegal immigrants” in the United States who have simply overstayed a legal visa: 45
11/06Percentage of U.S. GDP represented by salaries and wages today: 45
6/08Percentage of Republicans and Democrats, respectively, who believe in Hell: 69, 52
Percentage of independents who do: 45
7/85Percentage of Americans who say they don’t know how they could get along without Scotch tape: 46
Who say the “bad effects” of credit cards outweigh the good: 46
9/86Percentage of Frosted Flakes eaters who are adults: 46
Percentage today: 46
11/87Total number of hours the Grateful Dead has played “Dark Star” in concert: 46
2/88Percentage increase in fatalities on rural interstates where the speed limit was raised last year: 46
4/92Percentage by which the IRS has determined that the Reagans underreported their income during the 1980: 46
7/92Percentage change, since last year, in the membership of the National Abortion Rights Action League: +46
3/93Percentage of Americans who say that middle age begins when you start worrying about health-care costs: 41
Percentage who say that it begins when you don’t recognize the names of the music groups on the radio: 46
6/94Percentage of Americans who feel they are being “left behind” by technology: 46
Percentage of these who say they don’t care: 16
10/94Number of stories a New York City cat fell last June without sustaining serious injury: 46
Average number of stories a cat must fall before reaching its maximum falling velocity of 60 miles per hour: 5
3/95Percentage of Russians who say they would prefer the government of Leonid Brezhnev to that of Boris Yeltsin: 46
6/95Number of federal agencies whose officers have the authority to carry firearms and make arrests: 46
12/96Percentage of Americans who say that “government” is the biggest obstacle to middle-class prosperity: 28
1/97Percentage of poor, urban fifth-graders in a University of Michigan study who say that they smoke cigarettes: 6
8/97Percentage of Americans who say they’ve never heard of Marv Albert: 46
4/98Percentage of Germans who believe that those who don’t cheat on their taxes “deserve only pity”: 46
11/02Percentage of Latin Americans who said in 1998 that their nation’s privatization of state industries had been beneficial: 46
Percentage who say this today: 35
Percentage of unmarried, cohabiting U.S. couples that are: 41
1/04Minimum number of political parties registered in the United States: 46
Number of them represented in California’s gubernatorial race last year: 6
3/05Number of homosexual penguins found in Japan’s aquariums and zoos last year: 46
Percentage last year: 19
10/05Number of toilet seats at the EU Parliament building in Brussels that a TV station had tested for cocaine: 46
Number that tested positive: 41
9/07Sentence, in months, received by a Veterans Affairs official last year for taking kickbacks on purchases of red tape: 46
10/07Percentage change since 2004 in U.S. immigration to Canada: +46
Percentage change since then in total retail sales in Crawford, Texas: –27
1/88Percentage of U.S. in vitro fertilization clinics that have reported one or more successful pregnancies: 47
1/86Percentage of American men who say they enjoy sex more than money: 47
Percentage of American women who say this: 26
5/88Percentage of 18- to 24-year aids who prefer President Reagan’s hairstyle to Carter’s and Ford’s: 47
6/88Percentage of all sitting federal judges who were appointed by Ronald Reagan: 47
Percentage of Librans who are: 32
3/89Number of mayors in El Salvador who have resigned or been killed since last September: 47
8/89Number of candidates who have declined the job of under secretary for acquisition at the Pentagon this year: 47
11/89Number of times Rajiv Gandhi mentioned his mother or grandfather in an Independence Day speech in August: 47
11/89Percentage decrease, since 1979, in the number of white males applying to U.S. medical schools: 47
2/92Percentage increase, during 1991, in the number of New Hampshire residents receiving food stamps: 47
7/92Percentage of all record sales represented by rock music in 1986: 47
Percentage today: 36
7/93Percentage of Americans who say they would be likely to donate a deceased family member’s organs without permission: 47
12/93Percentage of South African workers who are unemployed: 47
2/94Percentage of all U.S. paperback-book sales accounted for by romance novels: 47
3/94Number of the 61 children murdered in Chicago last year whose mothers first gave birth as teens: 47
2/95Percentage of ob/gyn chief residents graduating each year who have never performed a first-trimester abortion: 47
10/95Number of times the phrase “affirmative action” appears in the text of California’s proposed Civil Rights Initiative: 0
Percentage of Californians favoring the initiative who do not know that it will eliminate affirmative action: 47
3/99Percentage of America’s nuclear power plants that were found to have “serious security lapses” last year: 47
1/01Average age of a new U.S. grandparent in 1999: 47
4/03Percentage change since 1998 in the total promotional spending of U.S. pharmaceutical companies: +47
Percentage change since then in such companies’ average profit per dollar spent on promotion: -24
3/07Estimated percentage of U.S. household spending that is controlled or influenced by children under 14: 47
12/08Percentage of Americans who say they live “paycheck to paycheck”: 47
Percentage of those making over $100,000 per year who say this: 21
5/85Percentage of American astronauts who have experienced motion sickness in space: 48
Percentage who publicly discuss it: 0
7/86Pairs of socks received as gifts by Vice President George Bush: 48
3/89Percentage of Americans who say that pregnant women who smoke or drink should be liable for harm to the fetus: 48
5/89Percentage of American barbequers who combine microwave cooking with outdoor grilling: 48
4/90Number of hours after Charles Stuart’s suicide that the first contract was negotiated for a book about the case: 48
11/91Percentage of Americans who say that the first thing they’ll do when the recession ends is “go out to dinner”: 48
2/92Number of U.N. employees worldwide who are currently detained or imprisoned by their host countries: 48
8/92Percentage of cancer specialists who say they would prescribe marijuana for their patients if it were still legal to do so: 48
8/92Percentage of Americans who say that “there is no chance” they would vote for Clinton in November: 48
2/95Percentage of Americans who favor cutting spending on “government programs for poor children”: 9
2/96Blocks from Lincoln’s tomb that a notice was posted last year warning cabdrivers not to pick up black males: 14
Estimated number of days later that the Lincoln Yellow Cab Company agreed to “monitor” its bulletin board: 48
6/97Percentage of Americans who believe they are more likely to see Elvis Presley than campaign-finance reform: 48
8/97Percentage of Americans earning less than $25,000 a year who believe the President propositioned Paula Jones: 29
Percentage of Americans earning at least $50,000 a year who believe this: 48
12/97Number of Krispy Kreme Doughnut “artifacts” on display at the Smithsonian: 48
12/00Number of American states in which physicians may legally prescribe clean needles to addicts: 48
12/00Percentage of Americans who say they would prefer being executed to serving a life sentence without parole: 48
1/02Percentage of Americans who believe that the theory of human evolution is “probably” or “definitely” not true: 47
Percentage of Americans who believe that the tenets of astrology”probably” or “definitely” have some scientific truth: 48
7/02Number of hours Israeli soldiers in Ramallah broadcast pornography on seven Palestinian television stations in March: 48
12/04Number of states with a Libertarian Party presidential candidate on the ballot last month: 48
4/05Percentage of U.S.-born Mexican Americans who have suffered from some psychological disorder: 48
Percentage of Mexican immigrants who have: 29
5/06Percentage of South Korean youth who say their country should back North Korea in the event of war with the U.S.: 48
2/07Percentage of Baghdad’s Shiites who say that all U.S. forces should leave Iraq within six months: 32
Percentage who want a withdrawal on a one-year timeline: 48
Percentage who say forces should be reduced even more gradually, as the “security situation improves”: 0
3/07Percentage of U.S. voters who said in December that “America’s best days” were “in the past”: 48
7/85Percentage of high school students who believe the president can declare a law unconstitutional: 49
7/87Number named Independence: 49
9/87Average age of federal judges appointed by President Reagan: 49
10/87Percentage of black Republicans who are under 30: 49
1/89Percentage of Israeli Jews who favor transferring all Palestinians out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: 49
10/90Percentage increase, since last year, in the number of traffic accidents in East Germany: 49
Percentage who think this today: 49
11/91Percentage of Americans over 60 who say that spandex clothing is “in”: 49
5/92Percentage of Americans who believe that news coverage of the economy has had a “negative effect” on it: 49
2/94Number of undelivered invitations to Clinton’s Inaugural discovered in an Arkansas warehouse in December: 49
11/94Total number of photographs of Kate Moss in the September issues of Vogue, Elle, and Harper’s Bazaar: 49
11/94Percentage of American women who say their car is “more reliable” than most men they know: 49
7/96Percentage of American voters who say “there is no chance whatsoever” that they will vote for Bob Dole: 49
12/96Percentage of Americans who believe that the government is concealing evidence of alien visitations: 49
11/02Average number of hours that the calories consumed in an American’s Thanksgiving Day meal could power a 27” TV: 49
7/04Percentage of deaths due to terrorism last year that took place in South Asia: 49
Percentage who say he is a “divider”: 49
11/05Number of out-of-town men who posted to New Orleans ’s Craigslist site seeking refugee women: 49
8/07Cost per minute last spring for callers to the Vienna public library to have literary erotica read to them: 49¢
1/08Percentage of New Jersey residents who say they would like to move out of the state: 49
Percentage who aren’t sure whether they would or not: 7
8/89Amount a Florida mother is seeking in a suit against a teenager who stood up her daughter for a prom date: $49.53
4/96Price of Well … There You Go Again, a new CD-ROM collection of the witticisms of Ronald Reagan: $49.95
11/00Price of a copulating turkey decoy, designed to flush fowl inflamed with territorial jealousy: $49.99
6/84Number of people who have applied for the job of executioner in New Jersey: 50
11/84Percentage decrease-in the cost of seven ounces of Beluga Imperial caviar, from 1982 to 1983: 50
11/84Percentage of nuts that squirrels lose because they forget where they put them (according to Beatrix Potter): 50
12/84Percentage of U.S. car owners who keep maps in their glove compartments: 50
8/03Average number of micrograms by which replicas of the international reference-kilogram cylinder now exceed it in mass: 50
5/86Percentage of Costa Ricans who say that Nicaragua interferes “too much” in Costa Rica’s internal affairs: 40
Percentage who say that the United States interferes too much: 50
4/87Fine for burning a cross without a permit in Charlotte, North Carolina: $50
6/87Number of feet separating President Reagan from reporters as he walks from the White House to his helicopter: 50
Number of feet that separated President Carter from reporters: 2
7/87Amount Dennis Levine earns each month working on the maintenance crew at Lewisburg Federal Prison: $50
8/87Percentage increase in South Africa’s 1988 defense budget: 30
9/87Percentage of U.S. hospitals that have applied for patents on inventions using human tissues and cells: 50
9/87Total number of vetoes cast by the United States in the U.N. Security Council: 50
Number of vetoes that have been cast by the Soviet Union since 1980: 2
1/88Percentage of children age 4 or younger living in Israel and the occupied territories who are Arab: 50
4/88Number of states that claim test scores in their elementary schools are above the national average: 50
5/88Percentage of Americans who think that “many problems” are beyond President Reagan’s grasp: 50
10/88Ratio of G.I. Joe dolls to American G.I.s: 50:1
12/88Percentage of doctors who say they would reject an unmarried woman’s request for artificial insemination: 50
3/89Percentage of Americans who watch television during dinner: 50
4/89Average cost per square foot to dig a wine cave in California: $50
5/89Estimated number of galleries that have exhibited paintings and prints by Tony Bennett in the last eight years: 50