It’s that time of the year when pools will begin to open, families will flock to beaches, and swimming season will have unofficially begun, punctuating vacations and days off with an activity for the whole family. And as CivicScience data show, 62% of Americans say they can ‘definitely’ swim (among those with an opinion). In contrast, 23% say they can swim ‘a little’ and 16% say ‘not at all.’
Men outpace women by nine percentage points with their ability to swim, while high-income earners lead all others in swimming skills by a minimum of nine percentage points as well. Meanwhile, Gen X adults have a minimum eight point lead on all other swimmers.
However, this demographic data is just the beginning of what sets those who can swim apart from the rest. Here’s what Americans tell CivicScience:
Water Consumption Preferences: Those who can ‘definitely’ swim are five percentage points more likely to drink unfiltered tap or well water at home than those who cannot swim (32% vs 27%).
Radio Listeners: While 67% of those who can ‘definitely’ swim say they listen to the radio weekly or more, just 41% of those who cannot swim at all say the same.
Bed Time: While 29% of those who can ‘definitely’ swim go to bed between 8pm and 10pm on a weekday, just 16% of those who cannot swim say the same.
Pharmacy Usage: Nearly half (46%) of those who can swim refill their prescriptions at stand-alone retail pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens. Just 38% of those who cannot swim do the same.
Favorite Drinks: Those who can swim are more than twice as likely as non-swimmers to have a go-to drink when they go out (54% vs 24%).
Where do you stand? Take this poll now and see how your preference compares with other Americans:
Clearly, the ability to swim isn’t just a physical skill, it’s a behavior linked to spending habits in all aspects of your life–in and out of the water.
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This article’s data comes solely from CivicScience’s database, which contains nearly 700,000 poll questions and 5 billion consumer insights.