American Ignorance

Sphere: Related Content How many votes does it take to break a filibuster in the United States Senate? Who is the chairman of the Republican National Committee? In which country this year where there more deaths of United States service members, Iraq or Afghanistan? If you answered any of those questions correctly, than you are more informed than the average American. In fact, if you answered the first question correctly than you are more informed than almost three quarters of Americans. According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, the majority of Americans are unaware of several current events and general knowledge.

Not since Roger Maris was attempting to break Bath Ruth’s homerun record has the number 60 been so present in the national media. For over a year one of the most consistently covered political stories has been the “super majority” in the Senate consisting of 60 Democrats. In fact, Republican Scott Brown campaigned in Massachusetts on being the 41st Republican Senator, would break the Democrats 60 vote filibuster proof majority. However, when asked how many votes in the Senate it takes to break a filibuster, only 26% of those surveyed answered the question correctly.

One of the visible leaders of the Republican Party is the Chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele. From appearances of television to radio Steele has been consistently promoting the message of the Republican Party. However, only 32% of those surveyed knew that Steele is the Chairman of the RNC. Also, only 37% of Republicans surveyed knew that Steele is the Chairman of the RNC. But, the Democrats have their own ignorance to deal with.

One of the Republican strategies has been to connect every single Democrat to three names: Obama, Pelosi, and Reid. It is strategy that was will be continued to be used by the GOP through the midterm elections, as strategically they feel that making as many campaigns tied to national issues will be electorally successful. So while it might seem surprising that more Republicans know who the Majority Leader in the Senate is than who is the Chairman of the RNC, it was even more surprising that less Democrats knew who the Majority Leader is than Republicans. While 48% of Republicans surveyed knew that Harry Reid is the Majority Leader, only 33% of Democrats knew that Reid is the Majority Leader.

Several other questions were asked, including questions about the United States debt, the unemployment rate, and even if those surveyed knowledge of Stephen Colbert. Over all out of the 12 questions that were asked, and respondents answered on average 5.3 correct questions. The question that the least amount of those surveyed answered correctly was how many votes that it took to break a filibuster, and the question that the most amount of those surveyed answered correctly was which country holds the most amount of the United States debate (China).

The Pew Research Center report breaks down demographically the differences in correct answers, focusing primarily on the gaps between Republicans and Democrats, the gaps between the old and the young, and the gaps between men and women. However, the two most significant indicators of how many questions a participant answered correctly were education and income. Those with a college degree answered an average of 7.3 questions correctly, while those with a high school education or less answered on average only 3.9 questions correctly. When it comes to income those who make $75,000 per year or more answered on average 7.1 questions correctly, but those who make less than $30,000 per year answered on average only 3.8 questions correctly. These differences marked a much bigger difference than those between men and women (+1.4), over 50 years old 18-19 years old (+2.1), and Republicans and Democrats (+1).

The survey probably should have replaced the Stephen Colbert question with another pop culture question. While Stephen Colbert’s popularity is high among both Democrats and Republicans (in fact is the only question in which both groups answered the question correct in the same percentage), it might not give an accurate depiction of Americans current events knowledge versus pop culture knowledge. Perhaps if the survey had asked a question about Tiger Woods or Jersey Shore we might have gotten a better view of Americans’ intellectual priorities. However, it is probably a fair assumption to say that Americans know more about the candidates for American Idol than they do for the United States Senate.