US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring theircivic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the groupthat organized the exam said Thursday.
Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).
“It is disturbing enough that the general public failed ISI’s civic literacy test,but when you consider the even more dismal scores of elected officials,you have to be concerned,” said Josiah Bunting, chairman of theNational Civic Literacy Board at ISI.
“How can political leaders make informed decisions if they don’t understand the American experience?” he added.
The exam questions covered American history, the workings of the US government and economics.
Among the questions asked of some 2,500 people who were randomlyselected to take the test, including “self-identified electedofficials,” was one which asked respondents to “name two countries thatwere our enemies during World War II.”
Sixty-nine percent of respondents correctly identified Germany and Japan. Among the incorrect answers were Britain, China, Russia, Canada, Mexico and Spain.
Forty percent of respondents, meanwhile, incorrectly believed that the US president has the power to declare war, while 54 percent correctly answered that that power rests with Congress.
Asked about the electoral college, 20 percent of elected officials incorrectly said it was established to “supervise the first televised presidential debates.”
In fact, the system of choosing the US president via an indirect electoral college vote dates back some 220 years, to the US Constitution.
The question that received the fewest correct responses, just 16percent, tested respondents’ basic understanding of economicprinciples, asking why “free markets typically secure more economicprosperity than government’s centralized planning?”
Activities that dull Americans’ civic knowledge include talking on thephone and watching movies or television — even news shows anddocumentaries, ISI said.
Meanwhile, civic knowledge is enhanced by discussing public affairs,taking part in civic activities and reading about current events andhistory, the group said.