Most Adults Think Movies Hurt Society, Lead To More Violence
Most Americans believe movies have a negative impact on society and lead to an increase in violence.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that (51%) of American Adults think movies and the motion picture industry impact U.S. society in a negative way. Just 21% think their influence is a positive one. Twenty percent (20%) say neither. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Sixty-two percent (62%) say violent movies lead to more violence in our society. One-in-four (25%) disagree, while 13% are not sure.
But slightly more adults see sexual content in movies as a bigger problem than violence. While 38% list violence as the biggest problem when it comes to inappropriate content in modern movies, 40% say it's sexual content. Just 10% think profanity is the biggest problem in movies today.
In responding to these problem areas, however, 76% of adults say parents are more responsible for making sure that young people are not exposed to inappropriate content in movies. Only 14% say the film industry is more responsible, while four percent (4%) say the responsibility lies chiefly with the government (4%). Three percent (3%) put the onus on movie theaters.
Among those with children in the home, 80% say parents are more responsible for screening out inappropriate content.
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The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on January 26-27, 2011 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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