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LIFESTYLE

49% Say Mother Was Most Influential Parent, 33% Name Father

Looking back, nearly half of American adults nationwide say mom influenced them more than dad when they were growing up.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that 49% name their mother as being the more influential parent in their upbringing. One-in-three adults (33%) say their father was more influential. Eleven percent (11%) name someone other than their parents. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Men are a bit more evenly divided on the question than women. Men still pick their mothers over their fathers by a 43% to 36% margin, but women say their moms were more influential by nearly two-to-one - 55% to 30%.

However, Americans almost universally agree that it’s better for children to grow up in a home with both their parents and feel strongly that such children have an edge over those whose parents are divorced. 

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.  

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on June 15-16, 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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