As a matter of curiousity, I checked on places that famous 97% shows up:
“Flu jab is a waste of time for 97% of patients” Daily Mail 5Feb2015
“Educate yourself why 3% People Control 97% of the wealth” Alwedekka blog 1Nov2010
“Report: 97% of mobile malware in on android” Forbes 24Mar2014
“When is it too late to fire software developers (97% complete for last six months” Quora 31Mar
“Why 97% of strategic planning is a waste of time” The Founder’s Mentality blog 22Jul2014
“Mydvd burn stops at 97%” Roxio 18Feb2015
“97% of US adults own a cell phone” magicJack blog
“VMWare converter—importing Linux image fails at 97%” Techhead
“If Chemotherapy fails 97% of the time…..” Reset.me
“97% of Planned Parenthood’s work is mammograms,……” Politifact 27Setp2015
“97% of Apple watch owners are satisfied” Forbes 20Jul2015
“97% of the galaxies in the universe are unreachable” reddit.com 20Aug2015
“Coal India achieves 97% of coal output target…..” 1Aug2015
“97% of counterfeit money in China……” Odditycentral 5 june2015
“New Jersey: 97% of teachers rated effective or highly effective: dianeravitch.net 2 Jun 2015
“97% of People are deficient in this nutrient” drcarney.com
“97% of drug trials back the firm that paid for them” thetimes.co.uk 30Aug2015
“97% of eligible Scots registered to vote in independence referendum” Scotsman.com
“BBC responsible for 97% of kids commissions” broadcastnew.co.uk 2Jul2015
“Over 97% of homicides in America aren’t committed in self-defense” Quartz
“Almost 97% of the Good Jobs created since 2010…..” BloombergBusiness
16Aug2015
“Dark Energy renders 97% of the galaxies in our observable universe….” Forbes 8Jul2015
“Why 97% of people don’t use 529 college savings plans” Bloomberg 9Sept2014
“Why do 97% of people take a job over starting a business?” gogvo.com
“97% of people make these DIY mistakes! (Don’t be one of them!) little-monster.biz
“8 lies that 97% of people at the gym will tell” broscience.co 27Feb2015
“97% of people are quitters” pureleverage.com
“97% of people globally unable to correctly identify phishing emails” databreaches.net 13 May2015
“97% of people in MLM network marketing love get rich quick schemes!” aurorejones.com
“Shocking body-image news: 97% of women will be cruel to their bodies today” glamour.com 3Feb2011
“97% of people fail at internet marketing? Why?” warriorforum.com 9Feb2012
“Shocking connection: 97% of all terminal cancer patients….” humansarefree.com
“97 of every 100 rapists receive no punishment” rainn.org
Seems 97% is a very commonly used figure in many areas. Makes one wonder about the accuracy of the actual statistic—is it science or is it marketing?
97% of the time I just don’t feel like coming out
Watching Those "Who watch the Deniers" 
Good observations!
It’s become a meme. Too large a number to ignore, yet not perfect (100%) because that’s not believable. Back in the day, way be for the internet, 4 out of 5 (80%) was convincing. Inflation set in and boosted it to 97%. It’s a prime number too so maybe there’s a mystical allure about it.