Nearly half of American women say they’ve been sexually assaulted, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
The poll coincided with Time magazine naming the #MeToo social media movement as the most influential “person” of 2017, as well as an NYPD report that more people this year reported a rape committed in a previous year than in 2016.
The Quinnipiac poll found that 47 percent of women nationwide said they have been “sexually assaulted, meaning someone touched [them] in an inappropriate, sexual manner without [their] consent.”
Thirty-two percent of men answered that they were sexually assaulted as well. A total of 1,747 adults were polled.
The pattern of those who said they were assaulted is consistent across all age groups, according to Quinnipiac.
Of those who said they were sexually assaulted, 39 percent said it happened in a social setting, 37 percent said it happened at work, 27 percent said it happened in the home, 20 percent said it happened on the street, and 19 percent said it happened in school.
The poll comes as dozens of women have accused high-profile men of varying industries of sexual assault, harassment, rape, and/or inappropriate touching. Accusations involve members of both the Republican and Democratic parties — including President Donald Trump, who has denied the allegations.
Some 63 percent of registered voters surveyed said they disapprove of “how the Republican party is handling the issue of sexual harassment and sexual assault in politics.” Of that, 41 percent of voters who identify as Republican said they disapprove.
Fifty-two percent of registered voters — of whom 39 percent are Democrats — disapprove of how the Democratic Party is handling the same issues.
