20% of Americans believe that most of the 9/11 hijackers are from Iraq?!?!?!
blackredyellow
Posts: 5,889
Truly sad....
Poll: What Americans (Don't) Know
We asked Americans about current events, history and cultural literacy. And we got some pretty disheartening results.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Brian Braiker
Newsweek
Updated: 5:53 p.m. ET June 23, 2007
July 2-9, 2007 issue - For our What You Need to Know Now cover story, we asked our polling firm to test 1,001 adults on a variety of topics, including politics, foreign affairs, business, technology and popular culture. The results were mixed, to be charitible. NEWSWEEK's first What You Need to Know Poll found many gaps in America's knowledge—including a lingering misperception about an Iraqi connection to the September 11 terror attacks, an inability to name key figures in the American government and general cultural confusion.
Even today, more than four years into the war in Iraq, as many as four in 10 Americans (41 percent) still believe Saddam Hussein’s regime was directly involved in financing, planning or carrying out the terrorist attacks on 9/11, even though no evidence has surfaced to support a connection. A majority of Americans were similarly unable to pick Saudi Arabia in a multiple-choice question about the country where most of the 9/11 hijackers were born. Just 43 percent got it right—and a full 20 percent thought most came from Iraq.
Still, seven in 10 (70 percent) are aware that the United States has not discovered any hidden weapons of mass destruction in Iraq since the war began. And perhaps because most (85 percent) are aware that Osama bin Laden remains at large, roughly half of the poll’s respondents (52 percent) think that the United States is losing the fight against his terror group, Al Qaeda, despite no military defeats or recent terrorist attacks to suggest as much.
Closer to home, more Americans are able to name Jordin Sparks as the winner of the most recent season of American Idol (18 percent) than can identify John Roberts as the Supreme Court’s chief justice (11 percent). Only one in three (31 percent) know that Ben Bernanke is the current Federal Reserve chairman; a quarter (26 percent) think Alan Greenspan, who retired in early 2006, still holds the position. Still, more than half of those polled (59 percent) could identify Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker in a multiple-choice question. (Younger respondents had a harder time with this question though, with 46 percent of those under 40 able to identify Pelosi compared to 68 percent of those older than 40.)
One third of the public (36 percent) correctly answered a multiple-choice question showing they knew that both Al Gore and Andrew Jackson had lost a presidential election despite winning more popular votes. A similar number (37 percent) could identify Abraham Lincoln as the first Republican elected president.
Our understanding of broader global affairs and history is sketchy at best. Less than half (42 percent) of the public was aware that Iraq only existed as an independent nation since 1920; 15 percent think Iraq existed as a country before and nearly half (43 percent) refrained from even guessing. Conversely, more than half (60 percent) could identify Vladimir Putin as Russia’s leader. Only three in 10 (29 percent) are aware that nine countries posses nuclear weapons. Four in 10 (38 percent) think only five countries posses such technology; 21 percent put the number of nuclear countries at 11.
Roughly half (53 percent) are aware that Judaism is an older religion than both Christianity and Islam (41 percent aren’t sure). And a quarter of the population mistakenly identify either Iran (26 percent) or India (24 percent) as the country with the largest Muslim population. Only 23 percent could correctly identify Indonesia. Close to twothirds (61 percent) are aware that the Roman Empire predates the Ottoman, British and American empires.
NEWSWEEK also quizzed respondents on business, technology, science and medicine. About one third (37 percent) have an idea of the current value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and even fewer (23 percent) could correctly select 2000 as the year that the dot-com bubble burst. The business question most respondents (55 percent) could answer correctly was the approximate price of oil (about $70).
Americans could only answer one of our three science and medicine questions correctly: 54 percent seemed to know that the human brain does not stop producing new neurons until after the age of 65. Only 15 percent, however, are aware that childbirth kills one woman a minute each day around the world. A quarter (28 percent) mistakenly thinks the top killer of women is AIDS and more than half (54 percent) thought it was heart attacks. Furthermore, only a small minority (17 percent) correctly chose “greater output from the sun” from a list of items as the lone factor that does not contribute to global warming (with 65 percent mistakenly believing that rice patties are not a contributing factor).
On the cultural front, even though there have been many popular television shows and movies based on her work, less than half (40 percent) of Americans can identify Jane Austen as the author of “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility.” Women (44 percent) were somewhat more likely than men (36 percent) to answer the question correctly. Still, nearly two thirds (65 percent) of Americans correctly identified soccer as the most popular sport in the world; just 17 percent believe it’s America’s pastime, baseball.
Geography is not the strongest subject for many Americans either. Less than half of the poll’s respondents (45 percent) know that South Korea is closer to Japan than Vietnam, the Philippines and Australia. Close to twothirds (64 percent) do know that the Amazon River is in South America. And despite Iraq’s ongoing relevance to current events, just half (50 percent) could select Libya as the only country out of a list of four that doesn't border it.
The NEWSWEEK Poll, conducted June 18-19, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points for questions based on Census Current Population Survey parameters for gender, age, education, race and population density. In conducting the poll, Princeton Survey Research Associates International interviewed 1,001 adults aged 18 and older.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19390791/site/newsweek/
Poll: What Americans (Don't) Know
We asked Americans about current events, history and cultural literacy. And we got some pretty disheartening results.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Brian Braiker
Newsweek
Updated: 5:53 p.m. ET June 23, 2007
July 2-9, 2007 issue - For our What You Need to Know Now cover story, we asked our polling firm to test 1,001 adults on a variety of topics, including politics, foreign affairs, business, technology and popular culture. The results were mixed, to be charitible. NEWSWEEK's first What You Need to Know Poll found many gaps in America's knowledge—including a lingering misperception about an Iraqi connection to the September 11 terror attacks, an inability to name key figures in the American government and general cultural confusion.
Even today, more than four years into the war in Iraq, as many as four in 10 Americans (41 percent) still believe Saddam Hussein’s regime was directly involved in financing, planning or carrying out the terrorist attacks on 9/11, even though no evidence has surfaced to support a connection. A majority of Americans were similarly unable to pick Saudi Arabia in a multiple-choice question about the country where most of the 9/11 hijackers were born. Just 43 percent got it right—and a full 20 percent thought most came from Iraq.
Still, seven in 10 (70 percent) are aware that the United States has not discovered any hidden weapons of mass destruction in Iraq since the war began. And perhaps because most (85 percent) are aware that Osama bin Laden remains at large, roughly half of the poll’s respondents (52 percent) think that the United States is losing the fight against his terror group, Al Qaeda, despite no military defeats or recent terrorist attacks to suggest as much.
Closer to home, more Americans are able to name Jordin Sparks as the winner of the most recent season of American Idol (18 percent) than can identify John Roberts as the Supreme Court’s chief justice (11 percent). Only one in three (31 percent) know that Ben Bernanke is the current Federal Reserve chairman; a quarter (26 percent) think Alan Greenspan, who retired in early 2006, still holds the position. Still, more than half of those polled (59 percent) could identify Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker in a multiple-choice question. (Younger respondents had a harder time with this question though, with 46 percent of those under 40 able to identify Pelosi compared to 68 percent of those older than 40.)
One third of the public (36 percent) correctly answered a multiple-choice question showing they knew that both Al Gore and Andrew Jackson had lost a presidential election despite winning more popular votes. A similar number (37 percent) could identify Abraham Lincoln as the first Republican elected president.
Our understanding of broader global affairs and history is sketchy at best. Less than half (42 percent) of the public was aware that Iraq only existed as an independent nation since 1920; 15 percent think Iraq existed as a country before and nearly half (43 percent) refrained from even guessing. Conversely, more than half (60 percent) could identify Vladimir Putin as Russia’s leader. Only three in 10 (29 percent) are aware that nine countries posses nuclear weapons. Four in 10 (38 percent) think only five countries posses such technology; 21 percent put the number of nuclear countries at 11.
Roughly half (53 percent) are aware that Judaism is an older religion than both Christianity and Islam (41 percent aren’t sure). And a quarter of the population mistakenly identify either Iran (26 percent) or India (24 percent) as the country with the largest Muslim population. Only 23 percent could correctly identify Indonesia. Close to twothirds (61 percent) are aware that the Roman Empire predates the Ottoman, British and American empires.
NEWSWEEK also quizzed respondents on business, technology, science and medicine. About one third (37 percent) have an idea of the current value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and even fewer (23 percent) could correctly select 2000 as the year that the dot-com bubble burst. The business question most respondents (55 percent) could answer correctly was the approximate price of oil (about $70).
Americans could only answer one of our three science and medicine questions correctly: 54 percent seemed to know that the human brain does not stop producing new neurons until after the age of 65. Only 15 percent, however, are aware that childbirth kills one woman a minute each day around the world. A quarter (28 percent) mistakenly thinks the top killer of women is AIDS and more than half (54 percent) thought it was heart attacks. Furthermore, only a small minority (17 percent) correctly chose “greater output from the sun” from a list of items as the lone factor that does not contribute to global warming (with 65 percent mistakenly believing that rice patties are not a contributing factor).
On the cultural front, even though there have been many popular television shows and movies based on her work, less than half (40 percent) of Americans can identify Jane Austen as the author of “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility.” Women (44 percent) were somewhat more likely than men (36 percent) to answer the question correctly. Still, nearly two thirds (65 percent) of Americans correctly identified soccer as the most popular sport in the world; just 17 percent believe it’s America’s pastime, baseball.
Geography is not the strongest subject for many Americans either. Less than half of the poll’s respondents (45 percent) know that South Korea is closer to Japan than Vietnam, the Philippines and Australia. Close to twothirds (64 percent) do know that the Amazon River is in South America. And despite Iraq’s ongoing relevance to current events, just half (50 percent) could select Libya as the only country out of a list of four that doesn't border it.
The NEWSWEEK Poll, conducted June 18-19, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points for questions based on Census Current Population Survey parameters for gender, age, education, race and population density. In conducting the poll, Princeton Survey Research Associates International interviewed 1,001 adults aged 18 and older.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19390791/site/newsweek/
My whole life
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
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What a weird poll. This sucks. I wish Newsweek would poll some stupid Brits, or some stupid Frenchmen. Then we intelligent Americans wouldn't have to feel ashamed of stupid shit like this.0
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20% of the 80% that think WWE wrestling is real.
You've changed your place in this world!0 -
yeah, Americans are so stupid. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. that's so old.
I want the same poll taken in Canada, Mexico, Russia, Germany, France, and Britain (relating to politics in those countries, of course) and I fully suspect that the results wouldn't be any better.
and knowing things like who the chief justice of the supreme court is is nothing but cocktail party trivia. it's not like they're elected or that the people can remove them from office if they do a lousy job. I also couldn't care who the federal reserve chairman is as long as they're doing a good job. now as far as where the terrorists come from and what the government is doing in other countries, yeah people should know.
btw, I also don't care who won american idol.0 -
MLC2006 wrote:yeah, Americans are so stupid. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. that's so old.
I want the same poll taken in Canada, Mexico, Russia, Germany, France, and Britain (relating to politics in those countries, of course) and I fully suspect that the results wouldn't be any better.
Why? other countries can't vote in US elections. Same as I don't have time to read details of Africa's politics to know their business because my voice is not heard there nor do I even live there.
If I did live in Africa and my country was at war and occupying another country under suspicious circumstances I would make a habit of keeping up with the general status quo of what's going on.Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")0 -
Its not surprising really. That misinformation has been shoved down our throats for over 5 years now!
What I love is that no one ever talks about the fact that the majority of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia! That country's name has NEVER come up in the national discussion of "Terrorism". something like 17/21 of the 9/11 hijackers were from that country...yet...NOTHING about how they are linked w/ Terrorism!“Kept in a small bowl, the goldfish will remain small. With more space, the fish can grow double, triple, or quadruple its size.”
-Big Fish0 -
RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:Why? other countries can't vote in US elections. Same as I don't have time to read details of Africa's politics to know their business because my voice is not heard there nor do I even live there.
If I did live in Africa and my country was at war and occupying another country under suspicious circumstances I would make a habit of keeping up with the general status quo of what's going on.
read the post you responded to. it says "relating to politics in those countries, of course." nobody suggested they poll american politics in africa, or vice versa. poll british politics and pop culture in britain, and the results would be similar...
ebay isn't evil people are
The South is Much Obliged0 -
this is no shocker... take a look around you0
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RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:Why? other countries can't vote in US elections. Same as I don't have time to read details of Africa's politics to know their business because my voice is not heard there nor do I even live there.
did you read the part that you quoted? want to go back and read the part in parenthesis?0 -
MLC2006 wrote:did you read the part that you quoted? want to go back and read the part in parenthesis?
Nah, accuracy always ruins a good old fashioned tired ass repetitive rant.
Why go home
www.myspace.com/jensvad0 -
MLC2006 wrote:did you read the part that you quoted? want to go back and read the part in parenthesis?
You explanation was quite vague.
I can't apologize for what your government is doing and how Americans are choosing to react to it.
If you're tired about hearing about it I definitely can't help that either.Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")0 -
RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:You explanation was quite vague.
I can't apologize for what your government is doing and how Americans are choosing to react to it.
If you're tired about hearing about it I definitely can't help that either.
the explanation wasn't vague at all, take the same poll in other countries with questions on politics relative to their own countries and see if the results are any better.
there is a good percentage of any society that are morons. however, not knowing the chief justice of the supreme court or the federal reserves chairman doesn't make one a moron.0 -
this is why a national election is meaningless0
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...blackredyellow wrote:Truly sad....
Poll: What Americans (Don't) Know
We asked Americans about current events, history and cultural literacy. And we got some pretty disheartening results.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Brian Braiker
Newsweek
Updated: 5:53 p.m. ET June 23, 2007
July 2-9, 2007 issue - For our What You Need to Know Now cover story, we asked our polling firm to test 1,001 adults on a variety of topics, including politics, foreign affairs, business, technology and popular culture. The results were mixed, to be charitible. NEWSWEEK's first What You Need to Know Poll found many gaps in America's knowledge—including a lingering misperception about an Iraqi connection to the September 11 terror attacks, an inability to name key figures in the American government and general cultural confusion.
Even today, more than four years into the war in Iraq, as many as four in 10 Americans (41 percent) still believe Saddam Hussein’s regime was directly involved in financing, planning or carrying out the terrorist attacks on 9/11, even though no evidence has surfaced to support a connection. A majority of Americans were similarly unable to pick Saudi Arabia in a multiple-choice question about the country where most of the 9/11 hijackers were born. Just 43 percent got it right—and a full 20 percent thought most came from Iraq.
Still, seven in 10 (70 percent) are aware that the United States has not discovered any hidden weapons of mass destruction in Iraq since the war began. And perhaps because most (85 percent) are aware that Osama bin Laden remains at large, roughly half of the poll’s respondents (52 percent) think that the United States is losing the fight against his terror group, Al Qaeda, despite no military defeats or recent terrorist attacks to suggest as much.
Closer to home, more Americans are able to name Jordin Sparks as the winner of the most recent season of American Idol (18 percent) than can identify John Roberts as the Supreme Court’s chief justice (11 percent). Only one in three (31 percent) know that Ben Bernanke is the current Federal Reserve chairman; a quarter (26 percent) think Alan Greenspan, who retired in early 2006, still holds the position. Still, more than half of those polled (59 percent) could identify Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker in a multiple-choice question. (Younger respondents had a harder time with this question though, with 46 percent of those under 40 able to identify Pelosi compared to 68 percent of those older than 40.)
One third of the public (36 percent) correctly answered a multiple-choice question showing they knew that both Al Gore and Andrew Jackson had lost a presidential election despite winning more popular votes. A similar number (37 percent) could identify Abraham Lincoln as the first Republican elected president.
Our understanding of broader global affairs and history is sketchy at best. Less than half (42 percent) of the public was aware that Iraq only existed as an independent nation since 1920; 15 percent think Iraq existed as a country before and nearly half (43 percent) refrained from even guessing. Conversely, more than half (60 percent) could identify Vladimir Putin as Russia’s leader. Only three in 10 (29 percent) are aware that nine countries posses nuclear weapons. Four in 10 (38 percent) think only five countries posses such technology; 21 percent put the number of nuclear countries at 11.
Roughly half (53 percent) are aware that Judaism is an older religion than both Christianity and Islam (41 percent aren’t sure). And a quarter of the population mistakenly identify either Iran (26 percent) or India (24 percent) as the country with the largest Muslim population. Only 23 percent could correctly identify Indonesia. Close to twothirds (61 percent) are aware that the Roman Empire predates the Ottoman, British and American empires.
NEWSWEEK also quizzed respondents on business, technology, science and medicine. About one third (37 percent) have an idea of the current value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and even fewer (23 percent) could correctly select 2000 as the year that the dot-com bubble burst. The business question most respondents (55 percent) could answer correctly was the approximate price of oil (about $70).
Americans could only answer one of our three science and medicine questions correctly: 54 percent seemed to know that the human brain does not stop producing new neurons until after the age of 65. Only 15 percent, however, are aware that childbirth kills one woman a minute each day around the world. A quarter (28 percent) mistakenly thinks the top killer of women is AIDS and more than half (54 percent) thought it was heart attacks. Furthermore, only a small minority (17 percent) correctly chose “greater output from the sun” from a list of items as the lone factor that does not contribute to global warming (with 65 percent mistakenly believing that rice patties are not a contributing factor).
On the cultural front, even though there have been many popular television shows and movies based on her work, less than half (40 percent) of Americans can identify Jane Austen as the author of “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility.” Women (44 percent) were somewhat more likely than men (36 percent) to answer the question correctly. Still, nearly two thirds (65 percent) of Americans correctly identified soccer as the most popular sport in the world; just 17 percent believe it’s America’s pastime, baseball.
Geography is not the strongest subject for many Americans either. Less than half of the poll’s respondents (45 percent) know that South Korea is closer to Japan than Vietnam, the Philippines and Australia. Close to twothirds (64 percent) do know that the Amazon River is in South America. And despite Iraq’s ongoing relevance to current events, just half (50 percent) could select Libya as the only country out of a list of four that doesn't border it.
The NEWSWEEK Poll, conducted June 18-19, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points for questions based on Census Current Population Survey parameters for gender, age, education, race and population density. In conducting the poll, Princeton Survey Research Associates International interviewed 1,001 adults aged 18 and older.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19390791/site/newsweek/
Why do they always take these polls at Swap Meets or outside of an Rob Schnider movie?Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
Hail, Hail!!!0 -
People also show up to watch Paris Hilton get out of jail. Stupid people exist.We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.--Bill Hicks0
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MLC2006 wrote:the explanation wasn't vague at all, take the same poll in other countries with questions on politics relative to their own countries being at war with Iraq and see if the results are any better.
there is a good percentage of any society that are morons. however, not knowing the chief justice of the supreme court or the federal reserves chairman doesn't make one a moron.
there I fixed it for ya.Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")0 -
20% of me thinks that 80% of me is part of 90% of me that thinks that 50% of me is 35% water, and 65% tennis balls.
all posts by ©gue_barium are protected under US copyright law and are not to be reproduced, exchanged or sold
except by express written permission of ©gue_barium, the author.0 -
RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:there I fixed it for ya.
knowing the chief justice or the speaker of the house (or the equivalent in your own country) has nothing to do with the war in iraq.
ebay isn't evil people are
The South is Much Obliged0 -
THC wrote:Its not surprising really. That misinformation has been shoved down our throats for over 5 years now!
What I love is that no one ever talks about the fact that the majority of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia! That country's name has NEVER come up in the national discussion of "Terrorism". something like 17/21 of the 9/11 hijackers were from that country...yet...NOTHING about how they are linked w/ Terrorism!
That is an excellent point. The Saudi government actually pays for the construction and maintanence of madrahas in the kingdom where this brand of radical/militant Islam is taught. They contribute millions ontop of millions of dollars to questionable charities that funnel money to groups like Al Qaida. They even have their mucky fucking fingers in Iraq, but all we hear about is Syria and Iran. Meanwhile the Al Sa'uds are funneling money and other support to Sunni insurgents because the last thing the Saudi governments wants is another Shi'ite controlled country in the area. That would not go over well with the Sunni controled Saudi government considering the way they treat the Shia minority there like second class citizens.
Saudi Arabia is and always has been the epicenter of radical Islam (Wahabism). They where one of the only Muslim countries that let the Muslim Brotherhood, considered the precursor to Al Qaida, to operate freely after they where expelled from Egypt, Syria, Lebenon, and Jordan. What does our government do, nothing because we are a fucking addict hooked on their product. Also it's not just the Bush family, every president since FDR has been in bed with the Sa'ud."When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads." - Ron Paul0 -
MLC2006 wrote:yeah, Americans are so stupid. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. that's so old. I want the same poll taken in Canada, Mexico, Russia, Germany, France, and Britain (relating to politics in those countries, of course) and I fully suspect that the results wouldn't be any better.
Well, I can tell you about Canadian polls done at the time as it relates to Iraq having weapons. I specifically remember in 2003/2004 the Canadian and American numbers being reversed !! At the time, something like 67-70% of Americans thought Saddam had 'em, while 2/3 of Canadians said no. By 2005 virtually no Canadians thought Saddam had WMD, which stands in stark contrast to the opinions of Americans.0
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