How many people are scared of spiders and what do you do to overcome that?

Phobias can only be overcome with exposure. Sadly, because it IS a phobia, many people will never be sufficiently exposed to beat it, so it just gets worse and worse.

How many? a decent amount.
It is an anxiety disorder called phobia. There are many forms of treatment. such as exposure treatment, counter conditioning, systematic desensitization, and flooding.
In the case of spiders, I would recommend anything except flooding... too drastic.
If you want to know what each treatment is about... google it.
You do not overcome it by "trying, harder, trying to understand they are harmless beings..." or whatever (rap. Phobias are irrational by nature, don't try to rationalize a solution.

I suggest anything but taking hallucinogenic mushrooms and watching the movie Arachnophobia.

I hate spiders so squish them or spray Raid on them. Trying to overcome it as they do kill flies which I really detest. So, I've kept two little ones in my house and monitor them daily to see if they work hard enough to keep me from doing them in.

My Mom was afraid of snakes untill she actually held one now she wants to have one as a pet... As for spiders Im not sure what it is about them but they are just icky I suggest you go to a pet store and hold a tarantula it might help

For gods sake get a grip woman , spiders are great things and i wish i had a substance that was stronger then steel that sprayed out of my arse , i could make a fortune and do an act as spiderman on Britains Got Talent. I would love to spray Simon Cowell with web and truss him up so i could ruffle his hair and the like. Shoes could be a problem though , imagine the cobblers bill and come to think of it it would also not be fiscally advantagous on the sunglasses front either or what about specially tailored trousers to accomodate the 8 limbs . Maybe life as a spider wouldnt be good after all and it may be better just to hit them with rolled up news papers or stamp on them.

I had Arachnophobia...Yes i said HAD!. I used to be so terrified of them i would literally scream, have a panic attack and start crying. And they could be the size of dime for this to happen. funny enough Daddy long legs never bothered me.
Anyways when my son was 3 yrs old i was cleaning up my deck and there was a old cat pan there. He kept telling me Mommy theres a spider...all i saw was a dandelion seed. I was like no hun its just a seed. He was very adamant it was a spider. so I picked the damn thing up and turned it toward my face of where he said the spider was and OMIGOD its was a big a** spider. Well I screamed...my sister who was there jumped on a chair and screamed because i did and my poor son started crying. The panic attack that usually came with that never got to start cause i was too busy with comforting my son.
A few weeks later it was a beautiful day out and i told my son to go out and play. he wouldnt. Because there were spiders. I felt horrible..i just past on my fear to my son because of that episode. I did get him to go outside eventually...told him all the spiders migrated out of town lol
But after he told me that i made an effort to NOT be afraid of spiders. So when i saw one i would NOT scream. Ended up puking though. Eventually that stopped. But I also made an effort to show my son spider webs and how beautiful they were. Even though at the time i didnt think so. I kept thinking..i know its owner is going to come home soon and I HOPE i'm NOT here lol. But a funny thing happened I saw the beauty in the webs. Then I was able to show him webs with spiders in them. then eventually i saw the beauty in them too. I even had one live with me. It was a "wild" spider. But i lived on a farm and NO matter what i used...nothing was as good as Harry. Mind you Harry got evicted when Harry got to big and Harry turned into Harriet and layed a nest egg.
I knew my real test would be if i could hold a Tarantula. Over the years i have gotten used to spiders. I dont kill them i believe in catch and release. And some of them have been almost as big as a taruntula. About 6 months ago i got to hold a Taruntula. Beautiful girl. Slept in the palm of my hand. Then she crawled up my arm to my shoulder got comfy and slept there for awhile. I didnt want to give her back. She was awesome. So exposure exposure exposure. This did NOT take over night. I started when i was 22. I finally got over it when i was about 30-31. That was on my own. I think with a counseller you could do it quicker. My son who is 20 now unfornately does not like spiders. Not necessarily a phobie but they definitely give him the heebie jeebies LOL
He always gets me now to get rid of spider. My daughter who is 4 has a total fascination with spiders. Because i show them all the time to her. and explain how they live etc. Though she doesnt really care for bugs in generel. She'll probably end up with a boyfriend who hates them like her brother and will be his hero LOL
So thats how I did it. I'm glad I did. it wasnt easy but havig kids make you do things YOU never would think you would ever do =)

I'm scared of them but I don't want to overcome it. You would need to confront them until you are comfortble enough to hold them. If you really want to them see a Behavioral Psychologist.

You step on them. They are harmless most of the time. The best way to conquer fear is one step at a time. Learn more about spiders. They are interesting. Have you ever looked for webs in the morning. They make them so perfectly. Its a wonder how they can do that. Remember, baby steps.