..and several years of war, many many Americans and Iraqis dead, and billions and billions spent and wasted or lost...and less than 1/3 of those polled could name one of the largest populations of Iraqi citizens? makes me want to shake my head at the level of ignorance. It also begs the question, are most people in the world this way? is it only a small percentage of the people that care to be informed about what is happening in the world? in their own country? in their own state or city? and why is that?
Full Article
A new survey by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that despite the mass appeal of the Internet and cable news since a previous poll in 1989, Americans' knowledge of national affairs has slipped a little. For example, only 69% know that Dick Cheney is vice president, while 74% could identify Dan Quayle in that post in 1989.
Other details are equally eye-opening. Pew judged the levels of knowledgeability (correct answers) among those surveyed and found that those who scored the highest were regular watchers of Comedy Central's The Daily Show and Colbert Report. They tied with regular readers of major newspapers in the top spot -- with 54% of them getting 2 out of 3 questions correct. Watchers of the Lehrer News Hour on PBS followed just behind.
Virtually bringing up the rear were regular watchers of Fox News. Only 1 in 3 could answer 2 out of 3 questions correctly. Fox topped only network morning show viewers.
Told that Shia was one group of Muslims struggling in Iraq, only 32% of the total sample could name "Sunni" as the other key group.
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