# What is a VAST majority? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 25, 2004, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078 "2004-02-25T12:28:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/1 "2004-02-25T12:28:38Z")
I was browsing another thread a while ago, and someone made the claim, “The vast majority of Americans support _X_”, and they cited a survey that showed somewhat less than two-thirds of the responders supported _X_. Never mind what the poll was about, I’m just interested in the term “vast majority”. I’ve often felt that this term is used rather too loosely. To me, 64% or so is not a _vast_ majority, it’s just a regular majority. I might even say it’s a fairly _large_ majority, but not vast. To me a _vast_ majority indicates a vanishingly small percentage of (whatever) lies outside of it. To me, something like 99.9+% qualifies as a vast majority. Even a flat 99% is only an _overwhelming_ majority. IMHO, of course. I don’t suppose there’s a definitive answer, which is why I’m posing this here, instead of GQ. So what say you, Dopers? What’s your taxonomy of majorities? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/2 "2004-02-25T12:33:55Z")
I cynically believe a vast majority is related to the vehemence of the speaker’s support/dislike of what’s being described by the statistics. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/3 "2004-02-25T13:51:13Z")
I suspect that’s true in a lot of cases, **jjiimm** , but not always. In the particular case that sparked this thread, it was more along the lines of, “I don’t support this, but the vast majority do.” The vast majority in this case being 64%. It seems to be a simple rhetorical device. People use it because it sounds better than saying “most people” or “a lot of people”. It just strikes me as terribly imprecise. But then, I can be just a wee bit pedantic at times. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/4 "2004-02-25T13:56:38Z")
I agree. Also, if 34% of people think one way, and 7% of them think another way, that’s not a vast majority, because there is still 59% of the population unaccounted for. I therefore hereby impose my own arbitrary guideline, which everyone has to follow from now on: **You can only call something a “vast majority” when what is being described is at least 75% of the total.** Dictionary compilers note: I accept PayPal donations. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/5 "2004-02-25T13:56:39Z")
I’d say 2/3 or more. In contrast, the Bush election of 2000 was by a half-vast majority. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/6 "2004-02-25T19:14:47Z")
It better be at least a solid 85% or it’s not vast in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/7 "2004-02-25T19:39:29Z")
A vast majority is one that the speaker belongs to. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/8 "2004-02-25T20:16:26Z")
In this case it was 64% - 32% (apparently 4% undecided) which is exactly 2 to 1. In a vote, being outnumbered 2 to 1 is pretty vast, IMO. It basically means you have no chance of winning. Speakers often use those terms to describe groups which they are not a part of, for example: “The vast majority of the people in this Walmart are rednecks.” ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/9 "2004-02-25T20:18:41Z")
80%. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/10 "2004-02-25T20:42:17Z")
Vast majority - 70+% of the population Overwhelming majority - 90+% ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/11 "2004-02-25T21:16:08Z")
Put me in the 2/3 column. I’ll also note that in politics a “landslide” is often considered anything more than a 10 point spread (which is only 55% to 45% with two candidates.) Evidentally people in politics are fond of hyperbole. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/12 "2004-02-25T21:36:01Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > Vast majority - 70+% of the population > Overwhelming majority - 90+% Interesting. To my way of thinking, a vast majority is larger than an overwhelming majority. But perhaps a vast majority disagree. 😉 Hmm, maybe after this thread runs a while, we can average everyone’s responses and call that the Offical Value for a vast majority. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/13 "2004-02-25T21:41:42Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > Vast majority - 70+% of the population > Overwhelming majority - 90+% I would have said exactly this. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/14 "2004-02-26T00:57:14Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > In this case it was 64% - 32% (apparently 4% undecided) which is exactly 2 to 1. > > In a vote, being outnumbered 2 to 1 is pretty vast, IMO. It basically means you have no chance of winning. But in that example, if only 16% changed their minds, you’d be back to a 50/50 split (or 48/48/4, whatever). How can that be considered a vast majority? I would only use the phrase in cases like this: “The vast majority of people will never be struck by lightning in their lives.” Or, “Millions of people play the lottery, but the vast majority will never win a significant amount of money.” Only a few people out of millions. To me, the word _vast_ means a really staggeringly large number. Mind-bogglingly big. The universe is vast. Or forget the universe, let’s use a more local example: The Earth is big. The Sun is _overwhelmingly_ big, compared to the Earth. But the Sun is just a speck in the whole Solar System. The _vast majority_ of the Solar System is just empty space (give or take a few stray atoms). It seems to me that the phrase loses its utility for describing things lke that if we also use it to describe a simple 2 to 1 margin. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/15 "2004-02-26T11:08:51Z")
That’s cool, **Ferrous**. I probably did use the phrase to emphasize my point. I didn’t think Bush was pandering (at the time), but the vast majority in that thread did. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/16 "2004-02-26T20:25:26Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > That’s cool, **Ferrous**. I probably did use the phrase to emphasize my point. Well, I truly didn’t mean to pick on you specifically. That’s why I didn’t include your name or the thread title. Though you obviously saw through my clever obfuscation.😉 (That’s right, folks, **Eleusis** is the unnamed poster in the OP.) But yours wasn’t the first time I’d seen what I considered to be a misuse of the phrase, it was just the one that prompted me to start this thread. I wondered if anyone else felt the same way about it. It seems not though. Even the highest threshold so far proposed, 85%, is not what I would have called vast, so it may be that this word does not mean what I think it means. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vast-majority/231078/17 "2004-02-26T21:23:06Z")
A vast majority always agrees with me. That’s what a vast majority is. However, tradition seems to consider 2/3 and 3/4 to be important. 2/3: Override presidential veto, Congressional vote for constitutional amendment 3/4: State vote for constitutional amendment.