Thought for Food

What 72% of Americans don't know (and what 84% do know)

I took the Pew News IQ Quiz.  Got three questions wrong.  Scored a 76%, compared to the national average of 50%.

One of the questions that I got wrong was this… (See if you know the answer, and no peaking below!)

Since the start of military action in Iraq, about how many U.S. military personnel have been killed?

• Around 2,000
• Around 3,000 
• Around 4,000 
• Around 5,000

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I guessed around 3,000.  I guessed too low.  It’s around 4,000. How’d you do?

After you complete the quiz, you can look at a question-by-question breakdown of how you compare to the rest of the population.  This was the question that most people got wrong — 72%, to be exact.  Viewed demographically — no college vs. college grad and across age groups — the rate of incorrect answers was quite consistent.  The only marked difference is that men got it right 10% more often than women.

I find this very interesting.  It is almost as though the deaths in Iraq have become a blur. I remember well when the death toll reached 2,000.  I remember that some newspapers printed thumbnails of every fallen soldier.

Since then, it’s dropped off my radar.  And not just mine.  What I’d like to find out is if most people also underestimated the number of American lives lost to the war.

Not surprisingly, the question that most people got right — a whopping 84% — is:

What is the name of the talk show host who has campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama?

So it looks like we can all agree on our priorities, even if they are wrong.