Are You Smarter Than a Politician?

Intercollegiate Studies Institute's American Civic Literary Program recently announced the results of a test given to random individuals:

Well most citizens are smarter than politicians but not by much. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute released the findings of its 2008 Civics Literacy Report and the findings are UGLY. Out of the 2,500 randomly selected individuals 1,700 failed to earn more than a 49% score on its 33-question multiple choice American civics/history quiz. Politicians who took the test averaged 44% about the same as respondents with a high school education.

This is a table of the results comparing politicians to the general public:


Like we are surprised? It's nice to know the people who monkey with our lives and liberty are more ignorant than us common folk, but that is pretty damning in and of itself as well:

The results reveal that Americans are alarmingly uninformed about our Constitution, the basic functions of our government, the key texts of our national history, and economic principles.

• Less than half can name all three branches of the government.
• Only 21% know that the phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the people” comes from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
• Although Congress has voted twice in the last eight years to approve foreign wars, only 53% know that the power to declare war belongs to Congress. Almost 40% incorrectly believe it belongs to the president.
• Only 55% know that Congress shares authority over U.S. foreign policy with the president. Almost a quarter incorrectly believe Congress shares this power with the United Nations.
• Only 27% know the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits establishing an official religion for the United States.
• Less than one in five know that the phrase “a wall of separation” between church and state comes from a letter by Thomas Jefferson. Almost half incorrectly believe it can be found in the Constitution.

Americans from all age groups, income brackets, and political ideologies fail the test of civic literacy.

• Americans age 25 to 34 score an average of 46% on the exam; Americans age 65 and over score 46%.
• Americans earning an annual income between $30,000 and $50,000 score an average of 46%; Americans earning over $100,000 score 55%.
• Liberals score an average of 49%; conservatives score 48%.
• Americans who go to church once a week score an average of 48%; Americans who never go to church score 50%.

So, statistically speaking, there isn't any differences based on age, religion or politics. As a nation, we all suck. The average nationwide grade on the civic literary test is an "F." 49% is a failing grade, last time I checked. Do I find this disturbing? Are you kidding?

I could go on a diatribe about how our school system has failed us over time - but since older survey respondents fared just as poorly as younger ones, that argument is shot out of the saddle. One thing I didn't notice was the percentage of respondents who were registered voters. I'd like to hope that at least voters might have a bit more knowledge about our nation's foundations and laws, but honestly, I doubt that there would be any evidence to support that supposition.

There seems to be so many of us who want the government to rule their lives; to babysit us and take all risk away from us. Hopefully, there are enough of us stubborn curmudgeons who think the Founders might have had a clue to at least slow down the steady progression to socialism. I'm not even very optimistic about that idea, frankly.

Oh, and do you want to take the test? Clicky. It is thirty three questions long, and to my everlasting shame, I missed two for a score of 93.94%.

H/T SondraK