Booster4324 Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 The survey, conducted between April 30 and June 1 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, measured the political knowledge of 3,612 U.S. adults. Participants were asked to name the controlling party of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. secretary of state and Great Britain's prime minister. Overall, just 18 percent of participants answered all three questions correctly. I got all 3 thankfully. Took me a minute to remember the British PM's name. Here's the link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene Frenkle Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Sounds like more gotcha journalism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 I don't at all think those were three good or simple questions to evaluate the general public's knowledge. With the elections, and the economic downturn taking up almost all of the news, extremely little has been written about Gordon Brown. I would have guessed that a lot less than 18% of the general public would have known that, not to mention the 30% that did know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VABills Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Please note that CNN, Letterman, and Enquirer were the worst and didn't know that the Dem's held the house. Big surprise there, they continue t blame the repubs, and a large percent don't realize their ilks is in fact in charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 I don't at all think those were three good or simple questions to evaluate the general public's knowledge. With the elections, and the economic downturn taking up almost all of the news, extremely little has been written about Gordon Brown. I would have guessed that a lot less than 18% of the general public would have known that, not to mention the 30% that did know. I disagree. Those were all very valid questions The Gordon Brown question reflects the average American's lack of knowledge of what goes on outside our borders The Secretary of State question and especially the question of who controls Congress reflects the average American's lack of knowledge of politics beyond BushBad!, the PoW, the Obamassiah, and Sarah Palin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmac17 Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 this stuff fascinates me - I'd love to have the resources to set one of these up and crunch the numbers (actually it's not that hard, i'd just need the time). anyway - i guess the daily show didn't do as well as last time when their viewers were smarter than the foxnews people. I'm with Kelly - i would have thought it was under 18%. I'd also like to see the results by income, sex, race, favorite football team etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 I disagree. Those were all very valid questions The Gordon Brown question reflects the average American's lack of knowledge of what goes on outside our borders The Secretary of State question and especially the question of who controls Congress reflects the average American's lack of knowledge of politics beyond BushBad!, the PoW, the Obamassiah, and Sarah Palin I actually agree with you completely. I think the average American SHOULD have a greater interest and know these things like their European counterparts do, I just didn't think the average American as we know them wouldn't have seen the name Gordon Brown much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VABills Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 I actually agree with you completely. I think the average American SHOULD have a greater interest and know these things like their European counterparts do, I just didn't think the average American as we know them wouldn't have seen the name Gordon Brown much. That's because the mainstream media can't fit him into their schedule of praising the messiah and bashing mcpalin oh and blaming all of the money problems on the evil capitalists on wall street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 Ask them what the Dow is and they may be able to ballpark it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da Big Man Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 Sounds like more gotcha journalism. Always, always. Then they go down to Times Square and poll for Prez to break the news the Obiden is running away with it. And then the sheep act like sheep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ieatcrayonz Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 I actually agree with you completely. I think the average American SHOULD have a greater interest and know these things like their European counterparts do, I just didn't think the average American as we know them wouldn't have seen the name Gordon Brown much. I think it was an odd mix of questions. 1. Dems control the congress. Easy. Everyone should know it just from seeing less old men and more former hippies on TV all the time. 2. Rice should be the easiest answer of all. She is the only chick associated with the administration that is ever on TV at all and of course everyone knows the secretary is the chick. If you have to spell her first name, this question leaps in difficulty. 3. To me this is a 50-50. Part of me is happy that people don't know this because Europe is so completely worthless that the less brain cells we burn on them the better. But I sort of think we should know about England because there is an NFL game being played there, like it or not, and it is coming up soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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