Are you smarter than a Congressman?

[alexamenos]

A fun little civics quiz here:

link

Of the 2,508 People surveyed, 164 say they have held an elected government office at least once in their life. Their average score on the civic literacy test is 44%, compared to 49% for those who have not held an elected office. Officeholders are less likely than other respondents to correctly answer 29 of the 33 test questions.

[Kirobaito]

That's pretty pathetic. I didn't think any of the questions were particularly hard... even if you didn't know the answers to some of them, you can eliminate the stupid answers and take a reasonable guess. I found the one about Plato and Aquinas rather odd.

[Dirkadirkastan]

25) Free enterprise or capitalism exists insofar as:
A. experts managing the nation’s commerce are appointed by elected officials
B. individual citizens create, exchange, and control goods and resources
C. charity, philanthropy, and volunteering decrease
D. demand and supply are decided through majority vote
E. government implements policies that favor businesses over consumers

I said E.

[chumdawg]

Not a hard quiz, and not nearly as hard as they made it out. Leading questions/answers. You should be able to score 80+% on this with relative ease.

[alexamenos]

Originally Posted by Kirobaito

...I found the one about Plato and Aquinas rather odd.

I think it was a "we hold these truths to be self-evident" kind of thing -- a man has a right to defend his life, keep the product of his own labor, look at porn when he's got the urge, etc.....I believe that's the link, although I'll grant you it was one of the questions that I wouldn't expect many people to get right.

Didya check out the results? Alarming that less than 50% of elected officials couldn't tell you who the Constitutions says has the power to declare war. Not surprising, I guess, but alarming.