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Pew research. Do adults know much about their Gov?

Want to take the test yourself (link)? I need to warn you I aced it.


Why? No it's not my DNA, off-the-chart IQ or good looks (I'm not kidding). I read the Spritzler Report every day, every word...even in inclement weather. Do you have that type of discipline? Exactly, I didn't think so. I always suspected you wouldn't amount to anything.


Link to take short test.


BTW, if Jay asks you to consent to being on a "questions" video don't. Wait a minute. He's off the air?


What Americans know about their government

BY GABRIEL BORELLI AND SHANAY GRACIA

How much do you know about the U.S. government? Take the Pew Research Center civics quiz and find out how much you know compared with the American public.


Americans’ knowledge of their government varies widely by topic. Majorities are aware of the length of Supreme Court appointments, how states’ representation in the House of Representatives is determined, which parties control the House and Senate, and one of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.


Fewer Americans correctly answer questions about the filibuster, the length of a Senate term and how a presidential election is decided in the event of a tie in the Electoral College.


Before reading further, take our U.S. civic and political knowledge quiz. For full question wording and correct answers, refer to the survey topline.



Three-quarters of Americans are familiar with the length of a Supreme Court appointment. This question got the highest share of correct answers on our quiz.


A clear majority (68%) also knows how the number of representatives each state gets in the House is determined.


The public also generally knows who’s in control in Congress: 66% correctly identify which party has a majority in the House and 63% know which controls the Senate.


A smaller majority (57%) correctly identifies one of the rights the First Amendment guarantees, while half correctly answer what part of the government requires a 60% majority vote to end a filibuster.


On the other hand, fewer than half of Americans know the length of a full term of office for a U.S. senator (44%) or who chooses the president if there is a tie in the Electoral College (40%).


Partisanship and civic knowledge


Republicans and Democrats perform about equally well on these questions.


Equal shares of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and Democrats and Democratic leaners correctly answer three questions:


Which party is in control of the Senate

One of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment

Which part of the government requires a 60% majority to end a filibuster

Among all eight items in the quiz, there is no greater than a 3 percentage point difference in the shares of Republicans and Democrats who answer correctly.


Age and civic knowledge


Older Americans are generally more likely than younger adults to answer the quiz questions correctly. For instance, 88% of adults ages 65 and older know the length of a Supreme Court appointment, compared with 62% of those ages 18 to 29.


However, older adults are somewhat less likely than younger adults to correctly answer questions about First Amendment rights and the tiebreaker for the Electoral College.


Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology.


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