STABILITY AND CHANGE IN THE U.S. PUBLIC'S KNOWLEDGE OF POLITICS

The U.S. public's current knowledge about politics is compared with levels of knowlege in the 1940s and 1950s. Fourteen questions asked by Gallup on various surveys from 1945 to 1957 were included on a larger survey of political knowledge conducted by telephone in 1989 with a randomly selected sample of 610 adult U.S. residents. On 8 of the 14 items, the percentage answering correctly in 1989 was higher than in the earlier surveys (by 4-15 points). One item showed an increase of 1 percent, two were down 1 percent, and three others declined by 5 percent, 9 percent, and 10 percent. When level of education is controlled, however, levels of knowledge appear to have declined for most of the items. A reanalysis of some of the original Gallup data is used to estimate the effectiveness of schools in transmitting political information in 1989 compared with the earlier years. An informed citizenry is an implicit requisite for any theory of democracy. However, public opinion surveys of the 1940s and 1950s consistently demonstrated the average citizen's limited knowledge concerning public affairs and the basic workings of parties, politics, and government (Berelson, Lazarsfeld, and McPhee 1954; Campbell et al. 1960; Converse 1962, 1964; Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet 1944). In 1962 and 1963 Erskine published four articles in Public Opinion Quarterly cataloging how informed the American citizenry was on a host of political and public concerns (Erskine 1962, 1963a, 1963b, MICHAEL X. DELLI CARPINI is assistant professor of political science at Barnard College, Columbia University. SCOTT KEETER is associate professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University. This research was supported by grants from Virginia Commonwealth University and Barnard College and by the Virginia Commonwealth University Survey Research Laboratory. Some of the data were made available through the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. Neither ICPSR nor the Roper Center is responsible for the analyses and interpretations presented here. We wish to thank Stephen Earl Bennett and the anonymous referees for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. Public Opinion Quarterly Volume 55 583-612 C 1991 by the American Association for Public Opinion Research All rights reserved 0033-362X/91/5504-0002$02.50 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.25 on Mon, 12 Sep 2016 04:27:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 584 Michael X. Delli Carpini and Scott Keeter 1963c). The articles brought together national survey questions asked from 1947 through 1962. Since the late 1950s the number and range of political knowledge questions asked on national surveys have declined precipitously. Using a national telephone survey, we have replicated several of the items reported by Erskine to document what, if any, changes have occurred in the U.S. public's political knowledge. First we summarize extant research on political knowledge, pointing out its conclusions as well as the shortcomings that result from a relative lack of current data. Next we discuss the design and validity of our survey and examine the willingness of respondents to complete a survey devoted mainly to a test of political knowledge. We then turn to the Gallup polls used in our comparisons, explaining adjustments that are necessary due to sampling bias. We follow with a comparison of marginals for 14 knowledge questions. Finally, we explore the changes in political knowledge (and lack thereof) in light of societal changes in educational achievement.