Appeal to Popularity

The Appeal to Popularity has the following form:

1. Most people approve of X (have favorable emotions towards X).
2. Therefore X is true.

Appeals to popularity suggest that an idea must be true simply because it is widely held. This is a fallacy because popular opinion can be, and quite often is, mistaken.

Example:

(1)  Most people believe in a god or ‘higher power’.
Therefore:

(2) God, or at least a higher power, must exist.

This argument is an appeal to popularity because it suggests that God must exist based solely on the popularity of belief in God.