Well, as a "stackoverflow social 2.0 tech hipster webshit" (I answered the survey), I fully agree with you that the methodology is beyond suspect, you just can't take those numbers and apply some fudge factor from the top of your head and pretend the result has any credibility.
OTOH, regarding
> answering that you have “used” go is not the same as being a regular developer
The question they ask in the survey is: "Which of the following programming, scripting, and markup languages
have you done extensive development work in over the past year, and
which do you want to work in over the next year?", so it's more than just having "used" it.
Is that all one question? Then it’s even worse, because then “use” also includes purely aspirational users. Nice.
Also I don’t think anyone that participates on this website has any moral superiority over tech hipster webshit. But it’s good to realize this is a skewed demographic.
OTOH, regarding
> answering that you have “used” go is not the same as being a regular developer
The question they ask in the survey is: "Which of the following programming, scripting, and markup languages have you done extensive development work in over the past year, and which do you want to work in over the next year?", so it's more than just having "used" it.