Ged MaheuxRE: https://mastodon.social/@gedeonm/116222100347111745
Not gonna lie. This surprised me. Guess I’m just a hermit for not participating in world travel but I guess that’s what having little money will do for you.
A. Lee Bennett Jr.@gedeonm TBH I’ve not actually USED my passport since 2009—last time I visited my former girlfriend while she was studying in England. And I think only 2-3 times before that to see her in Canada.
Chris De Jabet@gedeonm I have a passport because I travel to Canada 1-2 times a year for work. In 15 years, I’ve never used it for personal travel yet.
Ash Doyle
Chancerubbage@gedeonm I can’t afford it either, even in better times. But I had one 20 -25 years ago, immediately lost it.
I might have crossed into Canada or Mexico if visiting friends near those borders, and I have friends in England.
Aaron@gedeonm also this probably isn’t a super representative sample of US citizens; I suspect Mastodon just attracts a more worldly group.
@harpaa01 Yep, no doubt about that at all.
TheFwGuy 🇪🇺🇮🇹🇺🇸🖖@gedeonm I don't think Mastodon is a good pool for this kind of inquiry.
Ask that on fb eventually.
Ask that on fb eventually.
John Wells@thefwguy My thoughts precisely. Mastodon, especially a techy subset of it, is likely not remotely representative of the larger population.
Jeff@johnwells @thefwguy ...unless you're asking this specifically of a subset of users, like the tech community ;-)
@JPZ @johnwells what the point to ask questions you can easily guess the result ? :)
@thefwguy @johnwells Whelp, considering @gedeonm's response saying they were surprised, I'd say that answers your question.
JohnOCFII@gedeonm At least 90% of my international travel (and initial reason for passport way back when I was in college) was for work. I was fortunate enough to travel to customers in Europe when I was a part-time developer during college, and for the following 15 years or so. I’ve had 3 non-work trips (international or domestic) in last 20 years.
jc
Billy Adams@gedeonm I answered no because, while I technically have one, it expired in 2008 and I just have never needed to renew.
Dan Morgan 
@gedeonm Hmmm. I used to but didn’t have a need for one the last decade. Now it is way more expensive and not coincidentally more important to have. In 1993 without a passport, I walked into Mexico at Nogales with college buddies for an afternoon of bar hopping and shopping. Can’t do that today.
Justin Miller@gedeonm You’ll get a wider range off Mastodon. I have grown family who’s never been on an airplane.
Spacewizard! (Ed H)@gedeonm I only recently got a new one because of All This. Just In Case. Most of my adult life I have not had a valid passport. That kind of thing might have affected the numbers.
Jamie BoothI'm going to guess where you asked the question skewed the results.
@jamie No doubt.
Shawn King@gedeonm As I suspected, your poll is probably skewed by your audience. In fact, “Less than half of Americans have a passport. Between 45% and 50% of Americans currently hold a valid passport.”
https://rusticpathways.com/blog/how-many-americans-have-a-passport
Simon Harper@KingShawn @gedeonm meanwhile in the old land and a small island off the coast of France:
“Approximately 86.5% of usual residents in England and Wales (about 51.6 million people) held at least one passport as of the 2021 Census”
@simonharper @gedeonm I'd be willing to bet those numbers are fairly consistent among most Western/developed countries…
@KingShawn @gedeonm is suspect the same TBH.
Penguin@simonharper @KingShawn @gedeonm Europeans need a passport to go anywhere, or at least they did when I lived there in 1980’s. North Americans can travel 1000’s of miles (or km) without needing a passport so the percentage of people holding one is much lower.
@PenguinToot @KingShawn @gedeonm Sure, in the same country. You do know what a passport is and why you need one?
In the EU you can cross borders without a passport in 29 European countries because of the Schengen agreement yet a huge percentage still have one so they can travel to countries outside the EU ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@simonharper @KingShawn @gedeonm Americans, Canadians, & Mexicans used to be able to travel to all 3 countries without a passport, though that’s certainly changed now. Interesting about the Schengen Agreement, I suspected there was something like that. We lived in Switzerland so no EU travel for us, though as Americans we couldn’t have it anyway.