Swimming was the overall most popular choice of favorite "outdoorsy" activities in a CivicScience survey of more than 19,000 U.S. adults, narrowly beating hiking (17% to 16%). But while activities like hiking and camping were roughly even between genders, other activities — including swimming, hunting, and fishing — showed major differences.

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Posted by CivicScienceInsights

26 comments

  1. Interesting that there’s much more parity in rock climbing these days. 25+ years ago that definitely wasn’t the case. I have to wonder how that’s categorized though. If ‘rock climbing’ includes ‘gym climbing’ or ‘bouldering’ I know of a lot of climbers that would disagree with lumping all that together.

  2. Why would bicycling not be included in this poll? Probably because it would overwhelm the popularity of all these other activities

  3. “Something else” is actually “The Dozens of Other Popular Outdoor Activities We Were Too Lazy To Include Individually In Our Survey.”

  4. Maybe I’m an idiot, but why isn’t the “U.S. Gen Pop” just the average between men and women for every category?

  5. How is swimming outdoorsy, I bet more people swim inside than outside

  6. That person in the swimming icon is not having a good time.

  12. This thread is full of people who forgot you can swim for reasons that aren’t exercise.

    You bring a 6 pack and a float to the lake for aquatic nap time and can still call swimming your favorite outdoorsy activity.

    Plus think of all the inside people who love to go and tan on the beach. They’re probably answering swimming as well, since it is swimming adjacent.

  13. I thought the watercraft icon was a bow and arrow, and couldn’t read it without my glasses. Lol

  15. I’m surprised how close camping is given how male-coded it’s typically presented in popular media.

  16. This data is only mildly interesting and definitely not beautiful. Sorry. A basic bar graph is just not beautiful.

  19. How is this data beautiful? It’s just a bar graph with pictograms. More importantly, It’s bad data because it’s missing some of the most popular outdoor activities: running, cycling, golfing, pickleball, soccer, baseball, etc. while swimming is mostly an indoor sport.

  20. The data here is nice but the survey is questionable.

  22. So is backpacking considered ‘hiking’, ‘camping’ or ‘other’?

  23. I’d reckon running, biking, and golf are greater than most of these on the chart. Or you know, just plain walking lmao

  24. Rock climbing and watercraft, but no biking? And no running?

    Alright. Definitely not just someone with an Agenda here.

  26. Fishing and hunting are something a lot of guys say they like, but it’s really more about the social aspect of it. Not the actual sport. “Hunting” and “fishing” are excuses to get away with your bros and away from the world. For a lot of men, hunting opener is their equivalent of “girls’ getaway.” And if you catch a deer or a fish, that’s great. But it’s not the main point of the activity for most guys (unless they’re going alone obviously). It’s being out on a boat with your friends, a 24-pack of beer, and some music with a fishing rod you’re paying attention to intermittently.

    That accounts for the sex differential.

    Most of us will never tell you this.

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