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LIFESTYLE

Those Who Eat Fast Food Go For Convenience and Cost, Not Quality

Apparently, it's the price and convenience that sells Big Macs, Whoppers and fries, not the way they taste.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 42% of American adults say they eat at fast food restaurants at least once a week, including 12% who eat there two or three times every week. Two percent (2%) eat fast food more than three times a week. Fifty-five percent (55%) say they rarely or never eat at fast food restaurants.  (To see question wording, click here.)

Among those who eat fast food, 48% say they do so because it's convenient, while 25% say it's because the food is less expensive. Just 16% say they eat fast food because they like it.

Adults ages 30 to 39 and those who earn $60,000 to $75,000 per year are more likely to eat fast food than those in any other age and income demographic. 

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The survey of 1,000 Adults nationwide was conducted on January 18-19, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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