Some of you are lying about reading

How one polling decision uncovered a lot of untruths

Someone who (probably) isn’t lying about reading. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Getty Images)

A few months ago, a 2021 Pew Research Center study on Americans and their reading habits caught my eye. In particular, this survey said something astounding about the number of Americans who read: Seventy-seven percent of Americans said they read a book (in whole or in part) over the preceding year in some shape or form.¹

That number seemed a bit high to me, especially given the other evidence we have. A 2022 survey from the National Endowment for the Arts found that just 49% of adults reported reading a book in the last year. And sure, the literacy rate is probably higher for registered voters, who tend to be more educated than nonvoters, but does that mean the reading rate is 28 percentage points higher?

The Pew result didn’t align with other trends I was familiar with either. We know that literacy rates have been declining for a while now, and a study based on the American Time Use Survey data found that just 16% of adults read for pleasure on a daily basis — down from 28% in 2004.

Did three-quarters of Americans really read a book over the last year?

Given all the evidence in front of us, it was hard for me to believe these figures. So I decided to measure this in our own survey. In our August poll, I asked our respondents a simple question: “Have you read a book within the last year?”