Americans still love Elvis 40 years after his death
It was 40 years ago Wednesday that Elvis Presley, "the king of rock 'n' roll," died at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 42. And according to CBS News polling, Presley's popularity is the strongest it's ever been in a quarter of a century.
Forty-seven percent of the population considers themselves to be fans of Presley. The majority of Presley's fans come from the Baby Boomer and Silent generations. Some would have been teenagers during the apex of the king's career. Of those 65 and older, 55 percent say they are fans.
Presley's smallest group of fans comes from the 18-34 age demographic. Just 43 percent of them say they are fans while 54 percent say they're not.
Republicans tend to be bigger fans of Presley than Democrats. Of those polled, 55 percent of Republicans say they're fans, while 46 percent of Democrats say the same.
Presley's fan base has held relatively steady through the years but has fluctuated from the mid-to-low forties.
In 1992, when CBS first began polling about perceptions of the cultural and musical icon, 44 percent of people said they were fans of Presley. That number dipped as low as 42 percent in 2002, but it rebounded, eventually shooting up five percentage points over the last decade.
Conspiracy theorists who claim the king is still alive constitute around a tenth of the U.S. population. Of those polled, 87 percent say they believe Presley is not alive.