I got a 90.91%. (30/33). I'm surprised that the average was 77%. It seems high. This part is scary:
Elected Officials Score Lower than the General Public
The ISI civic Literacy survey was not designed to test the civic knowledge of elected officials, but it did discover evidence of an interesting pattern that may merit further exploration.
Are You Smarter Than a Politician?
Of the 2,508 People surveyed, 164 say they have held an elected government office at least once in their life. Their average score on the civic literacy test is 44%, compared to 49% for those who have not held an elected office. Officeholders are less likely than other respondents to correctly answer 29 of the 33 test questions. This table shows the “knowledge gap” for each question: the difference between the percentage of common citizens who answered correctly and the percentage of officeholders who answered correctly.
Theme of Question
Citizens
Elected Politicians
Knowledge Gap
1.
U.S. – Soviet Tension in 1962
70.09%
56.51%
-13.58%
2.
Declaration of Independence
83.09
69.78
-13.31
3.
Sputnik
74.1
62.82
-11.28
4.
Definition of Free Enterprise
41.45
32.08
-9.37
5.
M. L. King’s “I Have a Dream”
80.5
71.5
-9
6.
Electoral College
65.88
57.31
-8.57
7.
Scopes “Monkey Trial”
67.76
59.21
-8.55
8.
Susan B. Anthony
80.84
72.98
-7.86
9.
Power to Declare War
53.6
45.82
-7.78
10.
Business Profit
49.11
41.38
-7.73
11.
International Trade
37.47
30.45
-7.02
12.
FDR’s Government Programs
66.63
59.73
-6.9
13.
Abortion
50.77
43.94
-6.83
14.
Federal Branches and Foreign Policy
54.71
48.39
-6.32
18.
Taxes and Government Spending
27.7
22.12
-5.58
19.
Free Markets vs. Centralized Planning
16.25
10.71
-5.54
20.
Action Prohibited by the Bill of Rights
26.41
21.24
-5.17
21.
Commander in Chief
79.04
74.46
-4.58
22.
Anti-Federalists and the Constitution
38.22
33.82
-4.4
23.
Source of phrase “a wall of separation”
18.92
15.07
-3.85
24.
Policy Tool of the Federal Reserve
43.12
40.48
-2.64
25.
Powers of the Federal Government
75.01
72.69
-2.32
26.
World War II Enemies
68.76
66.58
-2.18
27.
The Puritans
19.1
17.32
-1.78
28.
Definition of a Progressive Tax
51.26
49.97
-1.29
29.
Three Branches of Government
49.65
49.32
-0.33
30.
Definition of a Public Good
27.6
28.03
0.43
31.
Gettysburg Address
21.06
22.95
1.89
32.
Fiscal Policy for Economic Stimulus
36.07
39.93
3.86
33.
Lincoln–Douglas Debates
19.06
23.62
4.56
All survey respondents were asked whether they have ever engaged in any of 13 different political and civic activities. These included, for example, registering to vote, signing a petition, contacting a public official, publishing a letter to the editor, and whether they have ever been elected to a government office.
Among the 2,508 respondents, 164 say they have been elected to a government office at least once. This sub-sample of officeholders yields a startling result: elected officials score lower than the general public. Those who have held elective office earn an average score of 44% on the civic literacy test, which is five percentage points lower than the average score of 49% for those who have never been elected. It would be most interesting to explore whether this statistically significant result is maintained across larger samples of elected officials.
The elected officeholders come from the ranks of Democrats (40%), Republicans (31%), Independents (21%), and those who say they belong to no party or indicate no affiliation (8%). None were asked to specify what office they held, so the proportion in which they held local, state, or federal positions is unknown.
Not all officeholders do poorly, of course. Some elected officials rank among the highest scorers. But the failure rate on the test among those who have won public office is higher (74%) than among those who have not (71%). Officeholders scored lower on all sub-themes of the test: political history, cultural institutions, foreign relations, and market economy.
In each of the following areas, for example, officeholders do more poorly than non-officeholders:
Seventy-nine percent of those who have been elected to government office do not know the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits establishing an official religion for the U.S.
Thirty percent do not know that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are the inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence.
Twenty-seven percent cannot name even one right or freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Forty-three percent do not know what the Electoral College does. One in five thinks it either “trains those aspiring for higher political office” or “was established to supervise the first televised presidential debates.”
Fifty-four percent do not know the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. Thirty-nine percent think that power belongs to the president, and 10% think it belongs to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Only 32% can properly define the free enterprise system, and only 41% can identify business profit as “revenue minus expenses.”
On some questions, Americans who have held elected office do better than Americans who have not. They are a little more likely, for example, to recognize the language of the Gettysburg Address (23% to 21%) and to know that the question of whether slavery should be allowed to expand into new territories was the main issue in the Lincoln–Douglas debates (25% to 20%).
Officeholders and non-officeholders find it equally difficult to identify the three branches of government. Only 49% of each group can name the legislative, executive, and judicial.
Pages
I got a 90.91%. (30/33). I'm surprised that the average was 77%. It seems high. This part is scary:
Elected Officials Score Lower than the General Public
The ISI civic Literacy survey was not designed to test the civic knowledge of elected officials, but it did discover evidence of an interesting pattern that may merit further exploration.
Are You Smarter Than a Politician?
Of the 2,508 People surveyed, 164 say they have held an elected government office at least once in their life. Their average score on the civic literacy test is 44%, compared to 49% for those who have not held an elected office. Officeholders are less likely than other respondents to correctly answer 29 of the 33 test questions. This table shows the “knowledge gap” for each question: the difference between the percentage of common citizens who answered correctly and the percentage of officeholders who answered correctly.
Theme of Question
Citizens
Elected
Politicians
Knowledge
Gap
1.
U.S. – Soviet Tension in 1962
70.09%
56.51%
-13.58%
2.
Declaration of Independence
83.09
69.78
-13.31
3.
Sputnik
74.1
62.82
-11.28
4.
Definition of Free Enterprise
41.45
32.08
-9.37
5.
M. L. King’s “I Have a Dream”
80.5
71.5
-9
6.
Electoral College
65.88
57.31
-8.57
7.
Scopes “Monkey Trial”
67.76
59.21
-8.55
8.
Susan B. Anthony
80.84
72.98
-7.86
9.
Power to Declare War
53.6
45.82
-7.78
10.
Business Profit
49.11
41.38
-7.73
11.
International Trade
37.47
30.45
-7.02
12.
FDR’s Government Programs
66.63
59.73
-6.9
13.
Abortion
50.77
43.94
-6.83
14.
Federal Branches and Foreign Policy
54.71
48.39
-6.32
15.
First Amendment Freedoms
79.58
73.32
-6.26
16.
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas
29.49
23.29
-6.2
17.
FDR and the Supreme Court
25.07
19.24
-5.83
18.
Taxes and Government Spending
27.7
22.12
-5.58
19.
Free Markets vs. Centralized Planning
16.25
10.71
-5.54
20.
Action Prohibited by the Bill of Rights
26.41
21.24
-5.17
21.
Commander in Chief
79.04
74.46
-4.58
22.
Anti-Federalists and the Constitution
38.22
33.82
-4.4
23.
Source of phrase “a wall of separation”
18.92
15.07
-3.85
24.
Policy Tool of the Federal Reserve
43.12
40.48
-2.64
25.
Powers of the Federal Government
75.01
72.69
-2.32
26.
World War II Enemies
68.76
66.58
-2.18
27.
The Puritans
19.1
17.32
-1.78
28.
Definition of a Progressive Tax
51.26
49.97
-1.29
29.
Three Branches of Government
49.65
49.32
-0.33
30.
Definition of a Public Good
27.6
28.03
0.43
31.
Gettysburg Address
21.06
22.95
1.89
32.
Fiscal Policy for Economic Stimulus
36.07
39.93
3.86
33.
Lincoln–Douglas Debates
19.06
23.62
4.56
All survey respondents were asked whether they have ever engaged in any of 13 different political and civic activities. These included, for example, registering to vote, signing a petition, contacting a public official, publishing a letter to the editor, and whether they have ever been elected to a government office.
Among the 2,508 respondents, 164 say they have been elected to a government office at least once. This sub-sample of officeholders yields a startling result: elected officials score lower than the general public. Those who have held elective office earn an average score of 44% on the civic literacy test, which is five percentage points lower than the average score of 49% for those who have never been elected. It would be most interesting to explore whether this statistically significant result is maintained across larger samples of elected officials.
The elected officeholders come from the ranks of Democrats (40%), Republicans (31%), Independents (21%), and those who say they belong to no party or indicate no affiliation (8%). None were asked to specify what office they held, so the proportion in which they held local, state, or federal positions is unknown.
Not all officeholders do poorly, of course. Some elected officials rank among the highest scorers. But the failure rate on the test among those who have won public office is higher (74%) than among those who have not (71%). Officeholders scored lower on all sub-themes of the test: political history, cultural institutions, foreign relations, and market economy.
In each of the following areas, for example, officeholders do more poorly than non-officeholders:
On some questions, Americans who have held elected office do better than Americans who have not. They are a little more likely, for example, to recognize the language of the Gettysburg Address (23% to 21%) and to know that the question of whether slavery should be allowed to expand into new territories was the main issue in the Lincoln–Douglas debates (25% to 20%).
Officeholders and non-officeholders find it equally difficult to identify the three branches of government. Only 49% of each group can name the legislative, executive, and judicial.
Sopal
<?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" />
I love taking quizzes (and this one was more challenging than the usual).
Yes, you are, LOL!
Good for you!
Cool indeed. I did about the same.
"You answered 31 out of 33 correctly — 93.94 %
Average score for this quiz during November: 77.9%
Average score: 77.9%"
Hey, me too!
You answered 31 out of 33 correctly — 93.94 %
Average score for this quiz during November: 77.9%
Average score: 77.9%
I missed the one about what FDR threatened to do when parts of the new deal were declared unconstituional, and one of the economic questions
Pages