Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Too Stupid to Vote.


From the "tell me something I don't already know" department, an article in Tuesday's Washington Post by Kathleen Parker informs us that the average American is really too stupid to be allowed to vote.
Parker writes of a recent report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) on Americans' lack of knowledge concerning civics and how our government works.
This year the ISI surveyed 2,508 Americans, of varied backgrounds and educational levels, with a test consisting of 33 multiple choice civics questions.

The results?
Seventy-one percent of Americans fail the test, with an overall average score of 49%.
Liberals score 49%;
Conservatives score 48%.
Republicans score 52%;
Democrats score 45%.

The average score among those who ended their formal education with a bachelor’s degree is 57%, or an “F.”........ 13 percentage points higher than the average score among those who ended their formal education with a high school diploma.

Of course, I couldn't resist going to the ISI website and taking the test myself.
Before taking the test, I made sure I had a bite to eat and a cup of coffee (it was 6:30 AM, for crying out loud).
How did I do?
As you can see by the screen shot I took of my score, I did pretty good.
Twenty-seven correct out of thirty-three. It was calculated as 81.82%, but, hey....let's just say 82% OK.

Is there any wonder why we end up with Presidents like George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and now, Barack Obama ? We have far too many people, who have no clue how the government should operate, voting on who will get the most important job on the planet.
We should require anyone registering to vote take a civics test. If you can't do better than 70% you shouldn't be allowed to vote.

Take the Quiz


6 comments:

Larry Denninger said...

I got 29 out of 33 - 89%.

I should print this out and give it to my family members who voted for Barack Obama, just for fun!

Robert Simms said...

Do they know how to read?

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

I got 80% (I also took the quiz at 1 in the morning)...but I fully agree you should at least get 70% on the quiz to be able to vote

Robert Simms said...

This proves what I've suspected all along.Regular readers of this blog have above average intelligence.

Thomas Coolberth said...

Wow! Love the sites, man! I blogged on this ,too! Not bragging but I got a 84.5%. I was mad about getting a few economics ones wrong.

Robert Simms said...

Hi Thomas,
glad you stopped by. Hope you enjoy your time in Cebu.