Smart Politicians, Smart Voters

[Goth Brooks]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).

From YAHOO! News http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081120/od_af...JdZFM04P4IeO7gF

You can take the same test that they did here -> http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx

I scored 27/33, 81.82%

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

You answered 30 out of 33 correctly — 90.91 %

[Goth Brooks]

Although I don't think it should be a requirement for people to pass any sort of test before running for office, I think it should be a requirement for them to take such a test and have their scores posted publicly.

Questions like these, would anyone[1] really have voted for Bush or Obama had they scored so low?

[1] Not referring to idiots that vote their party no matter what, of course.

[Rev.Reverence]

You answered 25 out of 33 correctly — 75.76 %

..I did not think I would pass...hehehe...but the basic history helped! (& paying attention to the election helped a bit as well)

[TitsMcGee]

You answered 23 out of 33 correctly — 69.70 %

Honestly I thought I'd do better.

[Mouf Breathah]

Questions like these, would anyone[1] really have voted for Bush or Obama had they scored so low?

[1] Not referring to idiots that vote their party no matter what, of course.

YES. It would break down like this:

"Well, he failed that test, but, he does have faith in Jesus...."

or

"Well, he doesn't seem too smart, but, the other guy said he's gunna ban assault rifles..."

Not that I'm against Jesus OR Assault Rifles, but, the sad fact is that the majority of the country is neither educated/motivated enough to make a decisision based on research.

Of course the media does not help.

They give pleanty of face time to the candidates with the most money and piss on everybody else. There were what, SEVEN different people running for president this year? Yet at any televised debate we saw only two.

[n0Mad]

You answered 26 out of 33 correctly — 78.79 %

I actually thought I'd do worse. I got seven wrong but should've only gotten four or five wrong.

[candyman]

YES. It would break down like this:

"Well, he failed that test, but, he does have faith in Jesus...."

or

"Well, he doesn't seem too smart, but, the other guy said he's gunna ban assault rifles..."

Not that I'm against Jesus OR Assault Rifles, but, the sad fact is that the majority of the country is neither educated/motivated enough to make a decisision based on research.

Of course the media does not help.

They give pleanty of face time to the candidates with the most money and piss on everybody else. There were what, SEVEN different people running for president this year? Yet at any televised debate we saw only two.

I only saw one

[Msterbeau]

You answered 28 out of 33 correctly — 84.85 %

[Slogo]

You answered 29 out of 33 correctly — 87.88 %