A friend sent me this link to a quiz developed by Pew research. Twelve questions, virtually all of which should be easily answered by anyone who regularly follows national news.
The results, which are pretty appalling, may give us a clue to the ascendance of Donald Trump, not to mention the pathetic state of American politics today. After all, if you have no context within which to judge whether candidates’ positions are reasonable, or based upon an understanding of the issues involved, your vote is likely to fall into that category titled “uninformed.”
Here is the invitation to take the quiz. I particularly agree with the last line:
NEWS IQ TEST
This is a terrific test. And it shows results in a number of ways. It surely indicates that the majority of Americans don’t know what’s going on.
It’s astonishing that so many people got less than half right. The results say that 80% of the (voting) public doesn’t have a clue, and that’s pretty scary.
There are no tricks here — just a simple test to see if you are current on your information.
This is quite a good quiz and the results are somewhat shocking.
Test your knowledge with the challenge of 13 questions, then be ready to shudder when you see how others did:
If you get less than half correct, please cancel your voter registration.
My sense is that visitors to this blog are considerably more aware of what’s going on than the average American. Take the quiz and let me know if my intuition is correct.
Take heart dear friend. Half the population answered 75% or more of the questions correctly. I’m glad it was that high.
I answered 11 out of 12 correctly. I missed the question about the political make-up of the Senate. I was close, but no cigar. I am 72 years old. I watch and read the news daily. I also read you daily. Thank you for continuing to educate me.
I would add the following to the test:
Who are the Kagan’s and how do they shape America’s foreign policy?
Who is Victoria Nuland and what are her accomplishments?
Who is Berta Caceres and why should American voters concern themselves with her demise?
What does the moniker Curveball and the surname Chalabi have to do with trillions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of American lives spent?
Darn! Missed 2, but I in both cases, I was waffling between what I picked and the correct response, so I don’t feel too bad about it. I am an NPR junkie and follow the news closesly. I’m 54. I had a hard time with the Senate question (I thought they had a super majority) and I missed MLK, which is a little embarrassing, but the photo’s being in color instead of B/W tricked me….