I just heard that 61% of all US citizens actually belive that the world
was
created in 6 days.

I've rarely met anyone who fills the qualifications of that poll, much less
a majority of people I've ever discussed the issue with. I grew up in a
state where many people are religious, and attended many churches growing up
despite not having a strong faith myself, and in discussion after discussion
few people believed the "literal Bible" claim. Many religions as a whole
see the stories as anecdotes. Many other people believe the stories are
roughly true in that the main actors existed, but that things did not come
to pass exactly as written. The "made in six days" discussion is a
particularly common one, with debate over what a 'day' truly may have been
or represented.

Point being, as a person of no particular faith living in the U.S. I see the
'religion' here for what it is, and it's a far, far sight from the beliefs
of many foreigners who hear that most Americans believe in some sort of god
and summarily decide there's some sort of theocracy over here. A 'random
sampling' of 1000 people on the phone doesn't change that experience.