Online poll gives surprising results
His image decorates bumper stickers, coffee mugs and souvenirs across America. Some love him. Some hate him. Everyone argues about him.
He’s not a politician. He’s Bigfoot.
America’s most famous cryptid is a perennial conversation-starter in Gilmer County.
The county even hosts its own Bigfoot museum, Expedition Bigfoot.
The museum gets about 70,000 visitors a year, its owner David Bakara said.
“A lot of people up here have either seen something, or they know someone in their family that they love and respect who has seen something,” he said
In some ways, Bigfoot’s an unofficial county mascot, with his image on countless tourist items.
To find out what Gilmer residents really believe about the big guy, the Times-Courier conducted a Facebook poll. By the end, 194 people responded to the question.
In a county of slightly over 33,000 people, a poll this large has a fairly high chance of representing public opinion at large.
Of those polled, 61 voters said Bigfoot was real, making up 31 percent of responses.
Another 111 said he wasn’t, making up 57 percent.
There were 15 Bigfoot agnostics, at 8 percent of responses.
And seven people said their uncle is the Bigfoot of the family because of his excessive body hair, at just under 4 percent.
To Bakara, these poll numbers come as a welcome surprise.
“Maybe 20 years ago, if it was over 10 percent, I’d have been excited,” he said. “But it looks like it’s boarded between 30 and 40 percent.
According to a national poll by website Civic Science, 24 percent of Americans believe in in Bigfoot.
In comparison, just 17 percent of Americans say they trust the government in Washington, D.C. to do what is right, according to the Pew Research Center.
And, if Bigfoot brings in a few more visitors every year, residents of Gilmer have financial incentive to be thankful for Bigfoot believers.
If he brings in tourism, he at least functionally exists.