14 DAY TRIAL // Most respondents to a new poll believe that the American government should play a larger role in stemming the rampant spread of obesity than it does today. People believe that childhood obesity is the most significant form of the disease, and that this is where governmental actions should be focused.
Interestingly, parents seem to believe that the burden of ensuring their children do not become obese shouldn't rest solely on their shoulder. This is counter-intuitive because it's the parents who spend most time with their kids, and who have the biggest say in what the young ones are eating daily.
In the new survey, conducted by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, it is revealed that 57 percent of all respondents believe the government should be more actively involved in this issue.
On the other hand, some 39 percent of those questioned say that the authorities have no business in imposing rules or regulations to curb infant obesity inside the private household.
Most of those who expressed their opposition to a prospective governmental intervention in the matter were likely to be members or supporters of the Tea Party movement, LiveScience reports.
The reason why this poll was conducted is because official statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show a 300 percent rise in childhood obesity levels in the last three decades alone.
Back in 1980, only about 6.5 percent of children aged 6 to 11 were classified as overweight or obese, whereas that percentage has reached 19.6 in 2008. The trend does not show signs of abating, and the rise is progressive, CDC investigators warn.
Politically speaking, 71 percent of Democrats said they supported governmental intervention in this issue, as opposed to 41 percent of Republicans and 57 percent of independents. Hispanics were the most likely to agree with this (83 percent), while White were largely against (49 percent).
Researchers also discovered an interesting correlation between age and the response. People who were less than 30 years old were more likely to agree to a intervention (nearly 70 percent), while only 45 percent of those over 65 agreed to the same thing.
Oddly enough, American citizens don't seem too concerned with this problem overall, even if a third of the population is obese, some of them morbidly so, while another third is overweight.
Fighting obesity ranks as low as #22 in a top people made of the things they consider should be a priority for the federal government. Strengthening the economy was decided by 87 percent of respondents as the most important thing on the to-do list.