The contest is now closed. You can still take the survey to see how you fare, but there will be no prize. Click here to see the winners and check the right answers.
Six months ago, Amy Shields beat Dan Womack by only 13 points in this contest. Amy crushed most of the other contestants to gain her first title in How Well Do You Know Americans? "Power Of Plus or Minus 10″– the blog version of a popular game show where contestants try to accurately predict the respondent base’s answers to intriguing poll questions.
Today Amy, Dan and others (I hope) will try and play a second round of Power of Plus or Minus 10. On one popular game show, the winner gets 10 million dollars — sorry but that won’t be happening here. However, we will have a few lesser prizes for the top two people — assuming we get over fifty responses.
In case you’re not familiar with the Power of Plus or Minus 10, a few months ago, M/A/R/C Research interviewed 5,800 Americans between the ages of 18 and 65. We built a database of their answers, and it will be your challenge to see if you can guess how our respondents answered the questions.
The way this will work is this: Please click on the link below and answer the 7 questions in our little survey. We will total your answers and when we post your response, we will tell you how far away you were. It doesn’t matter if you are over or under the total. The top two people who are the closest in total to the seven questions will be the winners.
Click here to take the survey.
One change this time is that all M/A/R/C Employees can participate except myself, TA and anyone on our internal team who has seen the answers.
Look for the right answers and winners to be posted on May 19. Remember…the lower the score, the better.
Good luck to all!
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Jennifer Stocks says:
Total Score: 152
Comment
Frank Mezler says:
Total Score: 103
Comment
janet savoie says:
Total Score: 102
Comment
Lisa says:
Total Score: 70
Comment
Boy, I’m terrible at this…but I keep doing it because it’s fun. Thanks, Merrill!
Patricia says:
Total Score: 98
Comment
Colleen Mezler says:
Total Score: 164
Comment
John Garvey says:
Total Score: 204
Comment
Pat Savolt says:
Total Score: 107
Comment
Sharon Gautschy says:
Total Score: 197
Comment
Stephenie Gordon says:
Total Score: 125
Comment
very fun! i am not sure my deductive reasoning skills are as sharp as they should be…
Betsy Sutherland says:
Total Score: 131
Comment
Merrill Dubrow says:
Lisa,
You need to sit down. You score of 70 wasn’t terrible at all in fact the winning score of the last contest was 71.
You may just end up winning - nice job!
Merrill
Jason says:
Total Score: 139
Comment
krista says:
Total Score: 138
Comment
Theresa Milam says:
Total Score: 122
Comment
Brett says:
Total Score: 127
Comment
Scotty24 says:
Total Score: 145
Comment
JM says:
Total Score: 142
Comment
It was fun!
Laurie Bausk says:
Total Score: 107
Comment
It was fun…. I am consistent I would like to get less than 100 keep ‘em comin’
Larry says:
Total Score: 119
Comment
Kristy says:
Total Score: 150
Comment
Uncle J says:
Total Score: 187
Comment
Great fun!!
Steve Runfeldt says:
Total Score: 89
Comment
Interesting. When do we get to see the actual percentages?
Dan Ness says:
Total Score: 128
Comment
Oops. I thought the question was about how many people cried when they saw MY haircut. Hey, bad hair happens when you switch from a motorcycle helmet to a cowboy hat
Jane Rosen says:
Total Score: 91
Comment
I did better than the last time! It will be interesting to see the actual answers. GO AMY!!!!
Nathan Roseberry says:
Total Score: 97
Comment
Amy Shields says:
Total Score: 110
Comment
Darn it! Looks like the title will go to someone else. Good luck to all!!
Larry Gulledge says:
Total Score: 157
Comment
It was great.
Paul Kirch says:
Total Score: 130
Comment
Lance Hoffman says:
Total Score: 159
Comment
interested in the results
Nancy says:
Total Score: 124
Comment
Sami Biggs says:
Total Score: 138
Comment
John Marty says:
Total Score: 151
Comment
Carla Lindemann says:
Total Score: 232
Comment
Paul Valdez says:
Total Score: 197
Comment
Janet Baldi says:
Total Score: 128
Comment
Brenna Guthrie says:
Total Score: 175
Comment
Magda Cooling says:
Total Score: 140
Comment
Ew gads, 140?!
lena says:
Total Score: 130
Comment
Fun. Really random questions
Merrill Dubrow says:
Amy,
As defending champ a 110 isn’t bad at all. Even though you won’t be in the top 10 not a bad showing.
Thanks.
Merrill
Pat Billups says:
Total Score: 70
Comment
Marilyn says:
Total Score: 187
Comment
Dan Womack says:
Total Score: 132
Comment
132… Darn. Not nearly as good as last time!
Tiffini Penn says:
Total Score: 113
Comment
Kylene wolfe says:
Total Score: 109
Comment
Aaron Nichols says:
Total Score: 117
Comment
Too bad this wasn’t my IQ score!
Jeffrey Lorber says:
Total Score: 224
Comment
I flew in a hot air balloon and it was one of the best days of my life. Everyone should try it!
Jeffrey Lorber says:
Thank you Carla for having a worse score than me!
Stacey Zontini says:
Total Score: 106
Comment
steve schlesinger says:
Total Score: 208
Comment
fun to do
Karyn Picchiotti says:
Total Score: 114
Comment
I’m not afraid of snakes but am afraid of motorcycles, bad haircuts and people who read their horoscopes!
Michael Mermelstein says:
Total Score: 204
Comment
Tom Hjelm says:
Total Score: 71
Comment
Bob T says:
Total Score: 58
Comment
Ed Erickson says:
Total Score: 183
Comment
Harry Heller says:
Total Score: 176
Comment
Lots of fun.
Sherri Neuwirth says:
Total Score: 134
Comment
KVD says:
Total Score: 69
Comment
Merrill Dubrow says:
Dan,
Only 132! Last time you kicked some butt. No second place finish this time.
Hope all is well.
Merrill
Stacey Weber says:
Total Score: 173
Comment
Stressful- you don’t want to get things wrong, but, you are just guessing. It was difficult!
Jacob Bonenberger says:
Total Score: 205
Comment
Wasn’t sure if it was weighted by US populations statistics so it was tough to guess. However, even that can’t explain a score as bad as mine
kath says:
Total Score: 129
Comment
Fun! Personally, I based my responses on the people that i know, so it will be interesting to see how that compares nationally.
Chad Bradley says:
Total Score: 147
Comment
Good Stuff
Merrill Dubrow says:
Stacey,
I think since Paul beat you in the contest you need to cook dinner for a week and take out the trash for a month!
Hope all is well.
Merrill
Ed Sugar says:
Total Score: 183
Comment
Well at least I did better than Carla and Yanqui fan Jeffrey
Brett Helmantoler says:
Total Score: 119
Comment
It was fun
Alice Butler says:
Total Score: 74
Comment
Really had to just guess.
Tom McGoldrick says:
Total Score: 138
Comment
Pamela Kahn says:
Total Score: 109
Comment
It was interesting as I had no clue
Malcolm Williamson says:
Total Score: 57
Comment
Proof positive that I could never be a moderator!
Bill Dunn says:
Total Score: 104
Comment
Merrill Dubrow says:
Malcolm,
Nice job - so far you have the lowest score! Lets see if it holds.
Good luck.
Merrill
Tricia Dubrow says:
Total Score: 126
Comment
Fred Mertz says:
Total Score: 149
Comment
Jonathan says:
Total Score: 78
Comment
Robert Harrell says:
Total Score: 125
Comment
Fun
suzie q says:
Total Score: 137
Comment
sffsdf says:
Total Score: 179
Comment
efwsf
Elizabeth says:
Total Score: 113
Comment
Adam Ramage says:
Total Score: 222
Comment
Mr Andrea Montuschi says:
Total Score: 176
Comment
tina says:
Total Score: 142
Comment
Mike says:
Total Score: 85
Comment
fun
Henrik Öhman says:
Total Score: 115
Comment
debbie says:
Total Score: 198
Comment
I can’t imagine 198 is good
Kevin Mefford says:
Total Score: 135
Comment
eb says:
Total Score: 181
Comment
ok
Warren Rifkind says:
Total Score: 118
Comment
Jeffrey L Heiss says:
Total Score: 124
Comment
Scott Farrell says:
Total Score: 147
Comment
Tom Mathiesen says:
Total Score: 142
Comment
It was fun. The questions are of broad, general interest which makes it kind of intriguing. I also liked that it was simple and short.
Alan Grabowsky says:
Total Score: 74
Comment
ron kurtz says:
Total Score: 142
Comment
Very interesting. Would like to know the correct answers.
Mark Michelson says:
Total Score: 226
Comment
Hmm - so what are the answers?
Sanj Sethi says:
Total Score: 101
Comment
interesting
Kate Sojda says:
Total Score: 133
Comment
Rachel Coulter says:
Total Score: 192
Comment
Too broad.
Brian Numainville says:
Total Score: 177
Comment
Stacey Carven says:
Total Score: 187
Comment
steve says:
Total Score: 183
Comment
for me, i have done most tho never cried at a bad haircut but as i lose my hair-being a qualitative, not quant guy - does crying over that count? i am new to mrga but in industry ~20 yrs so hello to
David Tripepi says:
Total Score: 127
Comment
Really funny. It breaks down assumptions. Looking foeward to an European version…
Dean Wilson says:
Total Score: 114
Comment
danita says:
Total Score: 69
Comment
Aaron Walton says:
Total Score: 152
Comment
Alice Passannante says:
Total Score: 118
Comment
Mary Gilreath says:
Total Score: 211
Comment
Doug Gilreath says:
Total Score: 159
Comment
Deborah says:
Total Score: 149
Comment
Annarissa Francis says:
Total Score: 175
Comment
It was interesting.
silvana says:
Total Score: 192
Comment
For an Italian living in Italy like me it’s difficult not to fall in common places on Americans…
David Ham says:
Total Score: 109
Comment
Merrill Dubrow says:
David,
Thanks for your comments and idea. We actually have a quiz on how well do you know people and culture from other countries that will be on the blog in early June.
Thanks again.
Merrill
Merrill Dubrow says:
Mark,
Thanks for playing - the answers and scoreboard will be on the blog May 19.
Merrill
Gregg Lynes says:
Total Score: 96
Comment
Interesting - how do we find the answers to each question?
Heather Bosley says:
Total Score: 99
Comment
Under 100…cant wait to see the results!
Alicia Z. Rankin says:
Total Score: 119
Comment
Chris says:
Total Score: 143
Comment
mike coury says:
Total Score: 182
Comment
interesting range of esoterica; curious to learn the real answers
Matt Rosenberg says:
Total Score: 145
Comment
paul curran says:
Total Score: 131
Comment
A. Torres says:
Total Score: 181
Comment
Fun
Michael Cruz says:
Total Score: 161
Comment
Tim Antoniewicz says:
Total Score: 120
Comment
Susan Schneider says:
Total Score: 146
Comment
I’m not sure what to think and I have no idea what the score means. Is it out of 1000?
Susan Kohut says:
Total Score: 115
Comment
It was fun…and challenging to not try to google research the topics and just go with your gut!
Karen Bills says:
Total Score: 126
Comment
Anthony Tammaro says:
Total Score: 168
Comment
Lots of fun
David Galloway says:
Total Score: 224
Comment
WooHoo! I think I did pretty good!
Adam Lorber says:
Total Score: 166
Comment
Karen Dawso says:
Total Score: 149
Comment
Lynn Stalone says:
Total Score: 102
Comment
Brad Larson says:
Total Score: 123
Comment
J. Patrick Galloway says:
Total Score: 198
Comment
Bonnie says:
Total Score: 143
Comment
It would be interesting to see the actual results!
Juli says:
Total Score: 179
Comment
Joan Burns says:
Total Score: 204
Comment
It’s difficult to account for customs and trends in different parts of the country. I think, in retrospect, that my guestimates are way off base.
Jill Donahue says:
Total Score: 143
Comment
Michelle Lemire says:
Total Score: 188
Comment
Fun stuff!
Chuck Miller says:
Total Score: 202
Comment
Interesting to think about how you compare (or don’t) with the masses.
Garrett says:
Total Score: 146
Comment
Lorri says:
Total Score: 107
Comment
jennie says:
Total Score: 171
Comment
Jeffrey Adler says:
Total Score: 104
Comment
Judy Leerer says:
Total Score: 72
Comment
David Rooney says:
Total Score: 122
Comment
Andrew Bausk says:
Total Score: 107
Comment
Stephanie Halap says:
Total Score: 101
Comment
Elisa Galloway says:
Total Score: 191
Comment
Well it seems the people I surround myself with are not the norm! Would love to see the actual results..
sarah younk says:
Total Score: 123
Comment
Tom Champion says:
Total Score: 149
Comment
A fun way to spend a few minutes
Paul Bovee says:
Total Score: 165
Comment
fun and provocative
Deanna Key says:
Total Score: 102
Comment
fun… wonder if my score was good or bad
Nancy Kemmeries says:
Total Score: 117
Comment
Merrill Dubrow says:
Deanna your score was 102…… Only 15 people have had a score under 100. Nice job.
Hope you enjoyed the survey.
Merrill
Ginger Lindsey says:
Total Score: 165
Comment
TNB says:
Total Score: 145
Comment
Bob Graham says:
Total Score: 104
Randy Carson says:
Total Score: 229
Comment
Ouch!
Krista Joyce says:
Total Score: 156
Comment
Krista Joyce says:
158 - yikes - i no longer trust incidence tests by way of instant messenger!
Sean Case says:
Total Score: 183
Comment
test says:
Total Score: 179
Comment
silly americans
Mike says:
Total Score: 187
Comment
Ali Kapadia says:
Total Score: 168
Comment
Baillie Dempster says:
Total Score: 129
Comment
emily says:
Total Score: 136
Comment
Erin says:
Total Score: 204
Comment
John says:
Total Score: 154
Comment
Murtaza says:
Total Score: 196
Comment
booo!
Abbie Quintanilla says:
Total Score: 76
Comment
Danielle says:
Total Score: 162
Comment
Merrill Dubrow says:
Abbie,
Great score! You are the only person out of the last 27 people who have been under a 100!
Nice job.
Merrill
steve says:
Total Score: 158
Comment
stacey hall says:
Total Score: 207
Comment
Kenyon Woods says:
Total Score: 111
Comment
Mike Gargan says:
Total Score: 262
Comment
Very Interesting
Vicky Heniff says:
Total Score: 137
Comment
Kevin Robertson says:
Total Score: 46
Comment
Merrill Dubrow says:
Kevin,
CONGRADS! With your 46 you crushed the previous low of 57 by Malcolm Williamson.
I am impressed!
Nice job.
Merrill
Patrick Kimball says:
Total Score: 160
Comment
It was rigged!!!
Eric Bell says:
Total Score: 90
Comment
I thought it was really cool - it reminds me of that game show.
Dave Daines says:
Total Score: 103
Comment
Merrill Dubrow says:
WOW - 166 people entered the contest - twice as many as last year.
We hope everyone enjoyed playing. Congratulations to Kevin Robertson for winning the contest and the $100 first prize American Express Gift Certificate with an amazing score of 46. Malcolm Williamson was second with a score of 57 and will receive a $50 American Express gift certificate.
The average score was 143 and the hardest question was the one about how many people have ever ridden a horse - the average person was 35 away…..
The final answers and individual scores are all posted on the site.
Thanks for playing.
Merrill
Silvana says:
Merrill,
the experiment was interesting and amusing at the same time, thanks!!!
I would be curious of knowing more about the survey methodology if you have details.
No. of respondents & age we know, but how & where were the interviews taken? (On line, by phone, on street? In large or small Cities, in city centres or suburbs, in holiday locations?). My feeling was that the results were not a real mirror for “the mass” but I could be wrong, I’m not American after all…
Cheers,
Silvana
Merrill Dubrow says:
Silvana,
Thanks for the email. happy to answer your question. M/A/R/C Research interviewed 5,800 Americans online between the ages of 18 and 65.
Hope that helps.
Merrill
Connie says:
Total Score: 119
Comment
Brian Parker says:
Total Score: 147
Comment
louis shobe says:
Total Score: 193
Comment
i didnt get it
Sean Jordan says:
Total Score: 99
Comment
Very interesting! I just went with my gut feelings on each one.
Dan says:
Total Score: 142
Comment
Harder than I thought. I really had little idea on most of the questions.
taylor says:
Total Score: 124
Comment
interesting
Trevor says:
Total Score: 122
Comment
mary says:
Total Score: 149
Comment