A researcher interviewed 425 randomly selected US residents and asked about their views on the current climate change consensus. The table below summarizes the responses of the interviewees.
Views on Climate Change
1emResponseStrongly agreesSomewhat agreesNeutralSomewhat disagreesStrongly disagreesFrequency141205332521
If the population of the United States was 450 million when the survey was given, based on the sample day for the 425 US residents, what is the best estimate, in millions, of the difference between the number
of US residents who somewhat agrees to the current climate change consensus and the number of US residents who somewhat disagrees or strongly disagrees
to the current climate change consensus?
Let's find the difference between those who somewhat agree and those that somewhat or strong disagree.
Views on Climate Change
1emResponseStrongly agreesSomewhat agreesNeutralSomewhat disagreesStrongly disagreesFrequency141205332521
Difference=205−(25+21)
=159
The difference is based off of 425 US residents. We can use a proportion to scale it up to the entire US population.
425159=450 millionx
159(450)=425x
x≈168 million