Are You Smarter Than a Politician?
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has an online civic literacy test which is fun, challenging and easy to take. If you think you know something about the political issues we face, and how those issues came to be, take this civics test! I scored in the top 2%, and I should have known the few questions I did get wrong. What's frightening is that most civilians got a higher score than did our elected officials.
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Of the 2,508 people surveyed, 164 say they have held an elected government office at least once in their lives. 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 |
Keep this in mind when you go to the polls next year.
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