as many as as much as
Which sentence is correct:
- As many as 6% of US consumers say they are vegan, compared to just 1% in 2014. source
- As much as 6% of US consumers say they are vegan, compared to just 1% in 2014.
I know that before percentages we put as much as, for example: Sales amount to as much as 40%.
Solution 1:
Much is used with uncountable nouns, while many is used with countable nouns. The noun being modified is "consumers", who are countable, so many is correct.