Younger people typically score lower than older people on tests of political knowledge. That is true for some questions in the current survey, especially those that required an identification of public officials from their pictures. For example, just 46% of those younger than 30 were able to identify John Kerry from his picture as the nominee for secretary of State (the survey was conducted before Kerry was confirmed by the Senate on Jan. 29). Among those 50 and older, 74% chose Kerry’s picture from a group of photos.
Young people also were less likely to identify Christie and Boehner from their photos than were those 50 and older.
However, as many people under 30 as 50 and older knew that a map with highlighted states showed those that Obama won in 2012.
And about nine-in-ten young people (91%) could identify Twitter’s corporate logo; only 67% of those 50 and older could do so. Similarly, 79% of the youngest group recognized the symbol for the Euro, compared with 62% among those 50 and older.
Educational Differences in Knowledge Persist
The largest group differences in knowledge are found between individuals with lesser and greater levels of education. Respondents with no more than a high school education were less likely than college graduates to answer every question correctly.
Those with a high school education could correctly answer an average of 7.3 questions, compared with 10.1 correct among college graduates. The median gap in percent correct between the low and high education groups is 22 points.
Differences by educational group in the percentage answering correctly ranged from a low of 10 points (identifying the Twitter logo) to 30 points (identifying the flag of China).
Small Partisan Differences in Knowledge
In past versions of the News IQ test, Republicans have often outperformed Democrats and independents, but that was not the case with the current quiz. Overall, Republicans on average answered 8.7 items correctly, no different than Democrats (8.6) and independents (8.7).
Democrats (47%) were more likely than Republicans (37%) to recognize a photo of Elizabeth Warren, the new senator from Massachusetts. Other partisan differences were very small.
More Articles
- Selective Exposure and Partisan Echo Chambers in Television News Consumption: Innovative Use of Data Yields Unprecedented Insights
- Julia Sneden Wrote: Love Your Library
- Kaiser Health News*: May 11th Era of ‘Free’ Covid Vaccines, Test Kits, and Treatments Is Ending. Who Will Pay the Tab Now?
- The Stanford Center on Longevity: The New Map of Life
- Julia Sneden Wrote: Old Dogs, New Tricks
- How to Talk With Someone About COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: "There's so much tension that people don't want to risk a relationship"
- Jo Freeman Reviews Electing Madam Vice President by Nichola D. Gutgold
- What Do You Know About the Problem Solvers Caucus in the House of Representatives? They Unveiled New Bipartisan Solutions to Rebuild America’s Infrastructure, Among Other Concerns
- Kaiser Health News (KHN): Colleges and Universities Plan for Normal-ish Campus Life in the Fall
- Jo Freeman: The Georgia Peach Is Purple