On eight of the survey's 13 questions about politics, Republicans outperformed Democrats by an average of 18 percentage points. "Republicans fare substantially better than Democrats on several questions in the survey, as is typically the case in surveys about political knowledge," according to the study.

The widest gap -- 30 points -- came on a question about which political party is "generally more supportive of reducing the size of federal government." Seventy-six percent of Republicans, but only 46 percent of Democrats, correctly named the GOP.

Republicans even know more about Democratic leaders: 75 percent of Republicans identified Nancy Pelosi as a Democrat, vs. 59 percent of Democrats. And while 73 percent of Republicans knew Franklin Roosevelt was a Democrat, only 58 percent of Democrats did.

That is their big test of knowledge of "current events"? Who knows more about politicians and their platforms? Here's my theory on the numbers:

1) Republicans have traditionally trailed Democrats in total membership.
2) Republicans rely more on independent voters, including a significant number that reliably vote GOP.
3) The Republican name has been recently tarnished by Bush and more Republicans have become "independent" despite the fact that they still vote GOP (see: Tea Party).
4) The remaining Republicans are the hard-core base. They all watch Fox News, listen to Rush and know about politics--because their media echo chamber is very good at telling them who and what to hate.

And bam: Republicans "know more about politics".

The widest gap -- 30 points -- came on a question about which political party is "generally more supportive of reducing the size of federal government." Seventy-six percent of Republicans, but only 46 percent of Democrats, correctly named the GOP.

The only thing this proves is that the left knows the difference between reality and preception and teh right swallows any old BS they are fed. As noted by many a farker, the republicans talk a good game about small government but their actions tell a completely different story.

I wonder if the Koch brothers have made any donations to the American National Election Study recently.

FTFA: "Furthermore, conservatives outscored liberals by a margin of 65 percentage points when asked to identify the group most associated with attempting to destroy America's traditional Judeo-Christian values. Ninety-four percent of Republicans and only 29% of traitorous Democrats could correctly identify the Islamo-Fascist Gay Agenda."

stupid libs need to read a f*cking book

About seven-in-ten (71%) know that the Republican Party is considered to be the more conservative party.

Really! 50% would have this right by guessing. That means, on the most fundamental political question possible, Americans are marginally more aware than a possum with a head injury.

My take away from this is that Americans are just incredibly ignorant.

/sorry

sammyk: The widest gap -- 30 points -- came on a question about which political party is "generally more supportive of reducing the size of federal government." Seventy-six percent of Republicans, but only 46 percent of Democrats, correctly named the GOP.

The only thing this proves is that the left knows the difference between reality and preception and teh right swallows any old BS they are fed. As noted by many a farker, the republicans talk a good game about small government but their actions tell a completely different story.

I wonder if the Koch brothers have made any donations to the American National Election Study recently.

That's exactly what I was going to say!

mrshowrules: About seven-in-ten (71%) know that the Republican Party is considered to be the more conservative party.

Really! 50% would have this right by guessing. That means, on the most fundamental political question possible, Americans are marginally more aware than a possum with a head injury.

My take away from this is that Americans are just incredibly ignorant.

/sorry

Well, to expand on sammyk's point, it's arguable if some of radical positions recently taken by the GOP presidential candidates could be called "conservative" by any stretch of the imagination.

Lumpmoose: mrshowrules: About seven-in-ten (71%) know that the Republican Party is considered to be the more conservative party.

Really! 50% would have this right by guessing. That means, on the most fundamental political question possible, Americans are marginally more aware than a possum with a head injury.

My take away from this is that Americans are just incredibly ignorant.

/sorry

Well, to expand on sammyk's point, it's arguable if some of radical positions recently taken by the GOP presidential candidates could be called "conservative" by any stretch of the imagination.

Good point. That didn't occur to me. I could see some of the more clever people indicating that Liberals are indeed the more fiscally conservative party. My comment might be a little unfair upon further consideration.

The widest gap -- 30 points -- came on a question about which political party is "generally more supportive of reducing the size of federal government." Seventy-six percent of Republicans, but only 46 percent of Democrats, correctly named the GOP.


AHHHH hahahha holy shiatttttt

A March 2012 Pew report, entitled "Social Networking Sites and Politics," found that 28 percent of liberals have "blocked, unfriended or hidden someone" on social-networking sites because of their political postings, compared with 16 percent of conservatives.

Looking at my Facebook news feed, that's because a huge percentage of my liberal friends post things about not liking indefinite detention, SOPA, and admonishing the attacks on women and abortion. A huge percentage of my conservative friends make snide comments about stupid people voting for Obama and that liberals are just childish people who have never paid their own bills before.

Yes, yes...both sides are bad. But, the republicans I see are just plain mean. They openly call liberals stupid and just repeat things over and over until I want to not look at it anymore.

To add, the only person I blocked from Facebook was a college roommate that started posting comments 10-20 times a day that bashed liberals for ruining America. Feel free to be crazy, but I only want small doses from people I barely talk to anymore.

Ah, Katherine Kersten, a voice of moderation, honesty and reason.

The widest gap -- 30 points -- came on a question about which political party is "generally more supportive of reducing the size of federal government." Seventy-six percent of Republicans, but only 46 percent of Democrats, correctly named the GOP.

Others have pointed it out but it bears repeating: Perception and reality are two different things.

Fart_Machine: Katherine Kersten is a senior fellow at the Center of the American Experiment.

Yeah, this looks legit.

Love the picture of the woman having an orgasm with an American flag.

The Center of the American Experiment is a conservative free market think tank in Minnesota, USA. Its founder and President is Michael Pearlstein, a former Reagan appointee.

Totally legit.

actualhuman: mrshowrules: Lumpmoose: mrshowrules: About seven-in-ten (71%) know that the Republican Party is considered to be the more conservative party.

Really! 50% would have this right by guessing. That means, on the most fundamental political question possible, Americans are marginally more aware than a possum with a head injury.

My take away from this is that Americans are just incredibly ignorant.

/sorry

Well, to expand on sammyk's point, it's arguable if some of radical positions recently taken by the GOP presidential candidates could be called "conservative" by any stretch of the imagination.

Good point. That didn't occur to me. I could see some of the more clever people indicating that Liberals are indeed the more fiscally conservative party. My comment might be a little unfair upon further consideration.

Yeah, a lot of the questions they're trumpeting as demonstrating political ignorance just demonstrate a different opinion than the survey writers'.

I could see this on may issues. Liberal policies reduce abortions more than Conservative policy for instance. Liberals track record is stronger on National security issues. Right down the line I expect.

Those are all incredibly circumstantial or irrelevant rankings. Knowing Nancy Pelosi is a democrat? Platform stances? Un-friending on facebook?

p.s. Liberals unfriend you on facebook if they don't like your ideas or lifestyle. Conservatives try to make them illegal.

The widest gap -- 30 points -- came on a question about which political party is "generally more supportive of reducing the size of federal government." Seventy-six percent of Republicans, but only 46 percent of Democrats, correctly named the GOP.

I suppose more Republicans were able to "correctly" identify the president as a "Secret Muslim terrorist Kenyan"?

Being a solid middle-of-the-road troll, and having taunted both libtards and conservatards, I can say that, while the conservatives are much easier to rile, the liberals do have an astonishing amount of invective and hate that makes the extra effort worthwhile.

bulldg4life: A March 2012 Pew report, entitled "Social Networking Sites and Politics," found that 28 percent of liberals have "blocked, unfriended or hidden someone" on social-networking sites because of their political postings, compared with 16 percent of conservatives.

Looking at my Facebook news feed, that's because a huge percentage of my liberal friends post things about not liking indefinite detention, SOPA, and admonishing the attacks on women and abortion. A huge percentage of my conservative friends make snide comments about stupid people voting for Obama and that liberals are just childish people who have never paid their own bills before.

Yes, yes...both sides are bad. But, the republicans I see are just plain mean. They openly call liberals stupid and just repeat things over and over until I want to not look at it anymore.

To add, the only person I blocked from Facebook was a college roommate that started posting comments 10-20 times a day that bashed liberals for ruining America. Feel free to be crazy, but I only want small doses from people I barely talk to anymore.

I've only blocked one person over political talk on FB. I was a fool and tried to be reasonable in challenging her BS. It devolved into childish crap with her always falling back on her christianity. The final straw was her telling me I was going to burn in hell. The fun part about her christianity is she has had 4 abortions and her husband killed himself after finding out she was cheating on him with his brother in-law. I've known her since she was a child, her brothers are some of the best friends I have ever had as was her husband. I tried really hard to not blame her for his suicide. He did pull the trigger but after seeing what she had become I can't help but feel she has a lot of his blood on her hands.

Jackson Herring: The widest gap -- 30 points -- came on a question about which political party is "generally more supportive of reducing the size of federal government." Seventy-six percent of Republicans, but only 46 percent of Democrats, correctly named the GOP.


AHHHH hahahha holy shiatttttt

The really funny thing is that Obama is the first President in 40 years to reduce the size of the Federal government in his first 3 years of office.

Link

Salt Lick Steady: What was her sample? Because I would have refused to respond to a survey that included such idiotic, biased questions.

I'm guessing all the smart people responded likewise, hence the observed results.