Life is a little harder for left-handed people – CBS News poll
Is life much harder for lefties? Few people think so, but a significant portion of the population — about four in 10 — do think that life is a little harder for them. Most, however, don’t think being left-handed makes much of a difference these days.
According to some experts, just a little over 10% of people around the world are left-handed (our poll found a similar percentage), but there isn’t a whole lot of difference between left-handed vs. right-handed people as regards the relative advantages or disadvantages of being a “Southpaw.” Lefties are a little more likely to say life is much harder for them, but some — about one in 10 — actually think life is easier as a left-handed person.
Why is life harder for left-handed people? When asked to choose from a list of options, those who think life is harder overwhelmingly said that too many products and items are designed with right-handed people in mind: nearly nine in 10 say so.
Prejudices from the past don’t seem to carry nearly as much much weight: few people pick looking down at left-handed people (5%) or that it’s just better to be the same as most people (3%). Though some studies over recent years have suggested that lefties may be more prone to certain health issues or that they earn less money, almost no one picked left-handers either having more health problems (2%) or being less successful (2%) than right-handed people.
This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 1,980 U.S. adult residents interviewed between January 27-31, 2022. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as to 2020 presidential vote. The margin of error is ±2.4 points.
