If you believe the President reflects the electorate, the results seem pretty accurate.
Here’s just a few of the stats on the poll of 1001 Americans. Take it for yourself (cover up the answers with your hand as you go down the page) and see how you fare. My guess is readers of this blog will do better than average, although considering some of the comments we get….
Poll: What Americans (Don’t) Know
Even today, more than four years into the war in Iraq, as many as four in 10 Americans (41 percent) still believe Saddam Hussein’s regime was directly involved in financing, planning or carrying out the terrorist attacks on 9/11, even though no evidence has surfaced to support a connection. A majority of Americans were similarly unable to pick Saudi Arabia in a multiple-choice question about the country where most of the 9/11 hijackers were born. Just 43 percent got it right—and a full 20 percent thought most came from Iraq.
[…]
Our understanding of broader global affairs and history is sketchy at best. Less than half (42 percent) of the public was aware that Iraq only existed as an independent nation since 1920; 15 percent think Iraq existed as a country before and nearly half (43 percent) refrained from even guessing. Conversely, more than half (60 percent) could identify Vladimir Putin as Russia’s leader. Only three in 10 (29 percent) are aware that nine countries posses nuclear weapons. Four in 10 (38 percent) think only five countries posses such technology; 21 percent put the number of nuclear countries at 11.Roughly half (53 percent) are aware that Judaism is an older religion than both Christianity and Islam (41 percent aren’t sure).
You can imagine how the science portion went.
I wonder what polls like this actually show. Many of these questions are asking things that a lot of people probably just don’t have any reason to care about (such as the Jane Austin question or when the brain stops producing new neurons). But I like seeing the odd opinion question with a “correct” answers that can’t be quantified – Q: From what you know about the situation, do you think the United States is losing the fight against al-Qaeda or radical Islamic terrorism? A: No
And has this really been proven as fact? Q: Which of the following does NOT contribute to global warming? A: Greater output from the sun
the only time american know geographic is when the invade a country ask any american where is costa rica located and the maty say south america lol
Yeah, apparently even the creators of the survey are not immune to this ‘ignorance’.
I’m not a climatologist, but I know more than few of them are arguing that increased solar activity may be linked to global warming. So, the author of the survey is either:
a) ignorant
b) injecting politics into things, thereby rendering the survey suspect.
wonder which is the correct answer?
Ignorance grows from being gullible and apathetic.
An ignorant society is what drives the GOP. There motto is “don’t vote on who’s right or wrong, vote for who is good vs bad – we are the good guys”.
This is very effective.
I think a lot of readers miss the point! We are not very open minded about what goes on even in our own country. We are more involved in our own little world than getting a bigger picture.
Not only have we lost common sense, but we have lost our ability to know what is happening around us. Sounds like we are becoming mindless!
Matt: Nobody argues that. I suggest you actually read the question next time.
and I think the answer to No 23 is just the opposite. It says The Sun is not a contributor to global warming, whereas in fact it may be the biggest factor?
What am I missing? and if its “just how you think about it” then nevermind.
Re #1 Q:23. Which of the following does NOT contribute to global warming? A: Greater output from the sun”.
It is a proven fact that with “greater output from the sun”, there is less cloud cover on the earth and the result is increased temperatures around the globe.
That question must have been written by Gore.
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The real problem is most Americans want to be entertained 24/7. They don’t care about an education.
No 3–sorry, read too fast before I posted===a major source of my own ignorance.
The “take it for yourself” link isn’t very good. Question 4 is multiple choice, so the answer is given in bold when you look at the question. Question 6 evidently doesn’t have a correct answer.
So I gave up. To that point I had 3 out of 4. Not bad for a Canadian, I suppose.
On Millionaire, they avoided questions about geography, especially about foreign geography, I think probably because the result would be national embarrassment.
In Trivial Pursuit (invented by Canadians), they dutifully have US political history questions, but in the deck I played with (Genus Edition?) the pattern is very strange, until you realize that they got most of the q’s and answers from a book on Republican Vice-Presidents. At least, that’s my guess. And I’m not smarter than a 5th grader.
I can almost accept that the majority of americans believed that Iraq was responsible for 911 in the early days of the runnup, and that this statistic has been steadily decreasing since then. What I can’t fathom is that the numbers have actually been increasing in more recent times. What the hell is that all about? That’s more than ignorance, people are actually choosing to be increasingly stupid – and we see this on a variety of issues.
I’m getting really tired of this “Americans are Ignorant” attitude – it’s just arrogant posturing. Nobody has the time to learn all the relevant facts about “everything important”. It’s just not possible – nor is it necessary. Living a happy, compassionate, honest life is where it’s at. Start with your own community and family. Improving your own local community will help America a lot more than whining about federal politicians, or learning where Costa Rica is.
Also, be aware that 99% of the REST of the world is “ignorant” too – it’s not an American issue, it’s just human nature.
#4,
I think ignorance has been pretty helpful for the Dems as well. How many campaign promises have been broken just since the last election? Did anything actually change when they took control of the House and Senate? Sorta looks like the same old bullshit to me.
It’s too bad people still believe there is a genuine difference between the two parties. We might actually accomplish something if we could get past that.
I think people would have gotten as many wrong answers with easier questions. A lot of Americans do not have what I consider a basic factual understanding of their own society. For example, they don’t know national or world population figures.
That’s the effect from the media brainwashing power. People don’t read the facts from the source they tend to take the info from somebody else. And this somebody else could be interpreting the facts in a false way. When people stop to act so naive and start to question every single piece of information they are exposed to, then the story will change dramatically.
John: That’s it, “meek and obedient you follow the leader down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel”.
Stars & Bars: You made the same mistake matt did and it’s your mother tongue!
Milo,
What are you talking about? Please explain your interpretation of the question. I’m seeing: “An increase in the sun’s intensity has nothing to do with global warming”.
??
While in England, I quoted Shakespear and the girl looked at me funny. I said “Shakespear” — she said “Who?”
I left the bar (without the girl) thinking maybe they don’t teach Shakespear in England and we Americans take our education as universal.
I bet today that chick thinks BushCo is a good presnit.
Also, be aware that 99% of the REST of the world is “ignorant” too – it’s not an American issue, it’s just human nature.
And this number comes form where? Your own observations, some study…
#20
do your cheesy chat up lines get you blanked often?
#21, probably from another “stump the chump” to make a point type survey like this.
#9, “That question must have been written by Gore.”
I figured that out after reading question #4.
Yeah, I didn’t learn any of that stuff in school… but I did learn how to put on a condom! :-}
No Child Left Behind!
#13 – I’m getting really tired of this “Americans are Ignorant” attitude
Me too.
I want the statement amended to “many, but not all, Americans are ignorant”
I’m tired of being lumped into that group.
#25 – Yeah, I didn’t learn any of that stuff in school… but I did learn how to put on a condom! :-}
Good.
That might be the single most important thing we can teach kids today.
Matt: Then one of us has a problem with our browser because that’s not how the question, the answer to the question in fact, reads when I look at it.
What you ‘quote’ isn’t a question, it’s a statement. Where I come from a quote must be exactly what was written in the quoted source.
Or perhaps it’s that words are just tools of the ivory tower, whale hugging, east coast elites and it’s all about truthiness, not what actual words are used? Therefore what really matters is what you want the answer to say, not what it actually says right?
It seemed that 3 of the 30 questions were subjective, but of the 27 valid questions I got 26 right… I missed the one about American Idol… As did 77% of respondents, so I guess the news isn’t all bad.
It’s nice to be in the majority once in a while, but I wouldn’t want to live here.
>>When people stop to act so naive and start to question every
>>single piece of information they are exposed to, then the
>>story will change dramatically.
Yeah. Civilization as we know it will grind to a halt. If I questioned “every single piece of information” I was exposed to just this morning, it would take 2 weeks of intensive research to verify or debunk.
What would be very helpful is some kind of impartial entity evaluate and summarize the relevant facts for those of us who have to go to work, take care of our families, go grocery shopping, plan for our retirement, and all the other pesky responsibilities that get in the way of becoming full-time Researchers For Truth.
So, who you gonna call? Fox “news”? Haw!
Why this poll’s results would come as any surprise is beyond me.
Never in the history of America have scholarly pursuits been looked on with anything other than disdain.
No wonder Americans routinely fail these type tests miserably — the mainstream culture exalts stupidity as genuineness and trustworthiness.
Milo,
I think your enormous intellect has missed the fact that the questions in bold are supposedly “correct”.