Posted on 10/16/2008 7:43:09 AM PDT by Artemis Webb
Some news audiences are more politically savvy than others, according to a new poll, with readers of The New Yorker and similar high-brow magazines being the most knowledgeable.
The survey, conducted between April 30 and June 1 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, measured the political knowledge of 3,612 U.S. adults. Participants were asked to name the controlling party of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. secretary of state and Great Britain's prime minister.
Overall, just 18 percent of participants answered all three questions correctly.
More than 50 percent of Americans knew that the Democrats have a majority in the House, while 42 percent could identify the secretary of state (Condoleezza Rice). Less than 30 percent could name the prime minister of Great Britain (Gordon Brown).
snip
Here's a detailed breakdown of the percentage of individuals answering each of the three questions correctly from the different news audiences:
The New Yorker/Atlantic: 71 percent (correctly identified Democrats as the majority in the House), 71 percent (correctly identified Condeleeza Rice), 59 percent (correctly identified Gordon Brown) NPR: 73 percent, 72 percent, 57percent Hannity & Colmes: 84 percent, 73 percent, 49 percent Rush Limbaugh: 83 percent, 71 percent, 41 percent Colbert Report: 73 percent, 65 percent, 49 percent Daily Show: 65 percent, 48 percent, 36 percent NewsHour: 66 percent, 52 percent, 47 percent O'Reilly Factor: 70 percent, 60 percent, 41 percent C-SPAN: 63 percent, 59 percent, 35 percent Letterman/Leno: 51 percent, 42 percent, 31 percent CNN: 59 percent, 48 percent, 29 percent National Enquirer: 44 percent, 32 percent, 22 percent
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the percentage of individuals answering each of the three questions correctly from the different news audiences:
The New Yorker/Atlantic: 71 percent (correctly identified Democrats as the majority in the House), 71 percent (correctly identified Condeleeza Rice), 59 percent (correctly identified Gordon Brown)
NPR: 73 percent, 72 percent, 57percent
Hannity & Colmes: 84 percent, 73 percent, 49 percent
Rush Limbaugh: 83 percent, 71 percent, 41 percent
Colbert Report: 73 percent, 65 percent, 49 percent
Daily Show: 65 percent, 48 percent, 36 percent
NewsHour: 66 percent, 52 percent, 47 percent
O’Reilly Factor: 70 percent, 60 percent, 41 percent
C-SPAN: 63 percent, 59 percent, 35 percent
Letterman/Leno: 51 percent, 42 percent, 31 percent
CNN: 59 percent, 48 percent, 29 percent
National Enquirer: 44 percent, 32 percent, 22 percent
I would have given credit for "who cares?".
I got all three (actually, I admit, I only said “Brown” before looking at the question. Gun to my head, I’m sure I’d have added “Gordon”). I must be a genius.
Eh, Gordon is increasingly irrelevant anyway.
I mean before looking at the answer.
I got all 3 - now can I blow some coin on a National Enquirer at the store just for entertainment purposes??
BTT
Lettermen isn’t known for having a very bright audience.
It's not just what you know. It's what you do with it. Color me unimpressed.
I used to like Letterman. I liked him a lot.
Now he’s just a formarly pretty OK Indiana guy who became a stuck up celebrity ass kissing liberal jerk.
Seems the path they take these days. When the new wears off, the a$$ kissing begins. All celebrtites suffer the “Madonna is old” problem.
Last time I watched late night comedy was when Johnny Carson signed off — Class act to the end.
notice in the article text the bias as well..... they mention the magazine readers at being somewhat smarter however Hannity and Rush viewers and listeners score highest yet get no mention of that in the body of the article....?????
Puts me in mind of this quote...
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Benjamin Disraeli
Something tells me the Free Republic audience would have trounced all of these.
Isn’t this stuff people should know just from paying minimal attention to what’s going on in their country and the world?
FR would be 100/99/85 minimum.
I think they skewed the results with the Brown question. Really, who cares if Americans know that? I don’t. But, more of Hannity/Colms and Rush audiences knew the more important things, although I would rather see what they knew about things like, what form of govt do we have, what the 3 branches do, etc.
LOL!!! Only 44% could name the controlling party in congress. Why, a bunch of monkeys would be at 50%!
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