Pew Survey Finds Most Knowledgeable Americans Watch 'Daily Show' and 'Colbert'

EDITOR & PUBLISHER ^ | April 15, 2007 11:30 PM ET | E&P Staff

[Karl Rand]

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.

[Karl Rand]

A new survey of 1,502 adults released Sunday 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.

The percentage of those who knew their state's governor dropped to 2 in 3. Almost half know that Rep. Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House and 2 in 3 know that Condi Rice is secretary of state. But just 29% can identify Scooter Libby, 21% know Robert Gates and 15% can name Sen. Harry Reid.

But nearly 9 in 10 knew about President Bush's troop escalation in Iraq.

Men scored higher than women, and older Americans did better than younger, on average. Democrats and Republicans were about equally represented in the most knowledgeable group but there were more Republicans in the least aware group.

[Karl Rand]

Take the test yourself. Here's my score: "You correctly answered 9 of the 9 possible questions along with approximately 4% of the public. You did better than 96% of the general public."

Public Knowledge of Current Affairs Little Changed by News and Information Revolutions What Americans Know: 1989-2007

[johnny7]

Pew? You mean... phew

[Russ]

You did much better than me. I scored 77% (I have always been a bad test taker) and I have never seen either of those two shows.

[Doogle]

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

..that's real comforting

[cripplecreek]

I do enjoy the Colbert Report.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Me too, and honestly I thought I had missed a few when I answered them.

[Karl Rand]

[getitright]

Well just damn. I got screwed. I missed “two” because there was one question which if answered incorrectly also nails you for getting a follow up wrong even though you never get asked the follow up.

The first question was a little obscure anyway I thought. Did Congress pass minimum wage increase? a- just the house. b- just the senate. c- passed both. d- passed neither.

And no- I did not answer “just the senate”!

[mom4kittys]

I scored the same—77%, I’m embarrassed because I’m a real news junkie. The 2 I missed were related to the minimum wage question. I wasn’t following that story at all I guess.
I don’t watch Colbert or the Daily Show though. ALl my news comes from FR or FNC or both.

[Doogle]

knowledgeability?

..the author meant to say knowledge ability (correct spelling)...for those who have spell check and use it to get the (correct answers)

[Retired Chemist]

If you go to the Pew site, you will see that Editor & Publisher left out the O’Reilly Factor and Limbaugh in the list of programs watched by the most knowledgeable.

[xmission]

Good thing they didn’t include listeners of “Air America”, because there might have been some “ZEROS” included on the list.

[saganite]

8 out of 9 for me. I missed the one about Hillary having declared her candidacy. I must have a mind block associated with anything Clintonian.

[Sandreckoner]

What a bizarrely misleading article. According to the Pew results on their web page:

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=319

... Rush Limbaugh and O’Reilly fans were right beside the Daily Show watchers, and were at the top of the list.

FOX news did not score significantly differently than did local TV news, network evening news, blogs or morning shows. CNN was only marginally better than FOX.

[NonValueAdded]

correct answer is e - it is in committee due to differences in what was passed by each.

[facedown]

Ha ha ha. Sure I believe this “survey”. If you do, I’ve got real estate in Venezuela for sale.

[Names Ash Housewares]

“What a bizarrely misleading article.”

Bias by omission.

[hilaryrhymeswithrich]

Damn....me two...mess up the first of the MW questions and you get two wrong....

For a FNC girl I guess I did ok!

[hophead]

I scored 77 also. I think the ones I got wrong were the last 4 on the same page.
http://pewresearch.org/newsiq/quiz/index.php

What does a yellow light mean?

[free_for_now]

rigged. John Roberts is only generally considered conservative because he is a Rebublican. I guess only Democrats can be moderate.

[free_for_now]

rigged. John Roberts is only generally considered conservative because he is a Rebublican. I guess only Democrats can be moderate.

[Mr. K]

They should poll FR readers!!!

Thank you for taking our News IQ quiz. You correctly answered 9 of the 9 possible questions along with approximately 4% of the public. You did better than 96% of the general public.

[Califelephant]

You correctly answered 8 out of the 9 possible questions, which means you did better on the quiz than 91% of the general public.

I watch Fox, and I did pretty well.

[Tribune7]

The average person between 36 and 59 years old scored better than 54% of the public while the average person under the age of 30 did better than 39%.

A bit of a disconnect with Colbert being the main news source.

[hophead]

“I’ve got real estate in Venezuela for sale.”

No no. The new phrase is. “I’ve got ‘carbon credits’ to sell you.”

[NonValueAdded]

77 as well. However, there are a few questions that are about facts I purposely ignore (I tune out the death count news since the agenda behind such reporting ticks me off) or are distinctions without a difference (Hillary’s “announcement” status).

[Major Matt Mason]

Pew? Don't pay any attention to it. Their the ones that ginned up the results of the Campaign Finance Reform polls to make it seem like the public was hot on this issue when in fact this was not the case. No surprise that it is a liberal organization, what with the lying and all.

[Tribune7]

What’s also funny is that I didn’t see a breakdown of Pubs vs. Dems.

[facedown]

The new phrase is. “I’ve got ‘carbon credits’ to sell you.”

LOL, I haven't started my own company yet.

[denydenydeny]

Scored 9 out of 9, I'm in the top 4% of those who took the test, and I have never watched an episode of either of these lefties.

[hophead]

I got wrong the one about John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I answered “moderate”. This shows you that Conservative, liberal depends on where YOU are on the scale. To some, Pelosi is too Conservative.

[Doogle]

...hmmmm...I scored a 77 too....guess my answer to sent Harry Reid to Iraq to equalize our foreign trade deficit, and to balance out the Pelosi snafu by sending a million Mexicans to Syria was taken the wrong way.
...but strangely, I don’t feel bad

[mom4kittys]

Oh well, I think we’re still “respectable” ~LOL

[Bigh4u2]

Ok. I scored 9 out of 9 and my percentage score was 96?

What did they do? Deduct 4 percent for being a Republican?

[hophead]

“I haven’t started my own company yet.”

I am setting up to sell “carbon credits” and Korans, translated to English of course, and prayer rugs and personalized directions from your home to Mecca. You must know which direction to face to pray and convert to Islam, the Religion of Peace. I don’t know, would falafel be objectionable to Muslims? Or is it too Jewish? Falafel would be sold in McDonalds, McFalalfel sandwich!

[Steve_Seattle]

How can Fox News score only 35% if O’Reilly scores 51%? O’Reilly is ON Fox News!

[God luvs America]

bump

[Calvin Locke]

I got a 91.

I screwed up on the follow up question on the minimum wage.

[hophead]

Look at this other survey on the same site. “typology group”?
http://typology.people-press.org/typology/

“Even if neither statement is exactly right, choose the one that comes closer to your views, and identify whether you feel strongly about that issue, or not so strongly.”

“strongly or not so strongly.”

BUT...the questions ask if you “Strongly agree or Agree”
NOT “strongly or not so strongly”. How biased is that?

[God luvs America]

and ahead of NPR and CNN....

[SAJ]

Sheesh, what a lame test. 46 seconds to get 9 of 9. Didn’t see the bit about Fox News watchers. It never asked, afaik. (shrug)

[SAJ]

Your percentile score was 96, not your percentage score. In English, you outscored 95% of the test-takers. Can't do any better than that with such a small sampling of questions.

[Doctor Raoul]

Liberals who watch Daily Show, Colbert and PBS have a higher IQ....Indoctrination Quotient. So the monkey knows which button will provide food and which button will provide an electric charge. Har dee har har.

[jmj3jude]

I also got 9 out of 9, I guess free republic members are very knowledgeable!

[Paulus Invictus]

Happily, I aced the survey--9 for 9, but I get all my news from FR and other conservative sites every day. Love the internet!

As for watching those two liberal idiots on Comedy Central, I cannot stomach either, especially Colbert who is a moronic Bush hater. And Fox is the only TV source I ever watch. All the rest are too far left for me. As for Pew, I say pew to this survey.

[fedupjohn]

That's Funny' My survey says that the most knowledgeable Americans

DON'T ANSWER THE PEW POLL SURVEYS

[pollyannaish]

Ok, so older Americans did better than younger ones, but The Daily Show and Colbert Report watchers did better those who watch other shows. Does this make sense at all?

What am I missing?

[Bigh4u2]

Yeah. I see that now.

I read it as ‘percentage’ instead of ‘percentile’.

Need new glasses! :0)

[napscoordinator]

Interesting that they would pick Daily show as number one in regards to knowledge. I was in Romania this weekend and of course there was only one station in English to watch...no problem...of course it was CNN World. Well Daily Show has a world type of show so I gave it a watch and WOW! It is extremely liberal!!!! I was embarrassed for John (??) having to run this show and some of the nonsense he gives out. I have seen his show in the U.S. a time or two and it was out there too, but nothing like the World version.