“Atlas Shrugged” Influential, Poll Reveals

November 30, 2010

IRVINE, CA--A recent Zogby national online survey indicates that 29 percent of the 2,100 adult respondents have read Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged.”

Of those who read the book, 49 percent agreed that “Atlas Shrugged” changed the way they think about political or ethical issues, versus 45 percent who disagreed.

And 51 percent of those who read the book said they were between 18 and 29 years old when they first read the novel, while 22 percent were between 12 and 17 years of age and 20 percent were aged 30 to 49.

When asked why they chose to read “Atlas Shrugged,” 38 percent of respondents in the online survey said it was recommended by a friend or colleague, 21 percent had it assigned or recommended in school, 11 percent read or heard about it in a print/Internet article or radio/TV program, 8 percent saw it in a library, and 7 percent noticed it in a bookstore or on a Web book sales site.

The survey also indicates that 21 percent of respondents have read Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead”; 7 percent, “Anthem”; 4 percent, “We the Living;” 3 percent, “The Virtue of Selfishness; and 3 percent “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.”

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