Who are the Democrats?

[LagerHead]

The Pew Research Center’s latest News IQ Quiz found a major difference in the political IQ of Democrats and the rest of us.

Pew asked people 12 questions and found that on average, Republicans and Independents got 5.7 questions right — while Democrats got only 5.0 questions right on average.





“Overall, Americans ages 50 and older answered an average of 5.8 questions correctly, while those younger than age 30 answered an average of just four questions. College graduates got the highest scores among all of the groups analyzed (7.1 correct answers), while those with some college education averaged 5.3 correct answers and those with a high school education or less got 4.2 right.,” the pollsters said.

Now, believe it or not the point here is not to slam Democrats or women. On the contrary. There have been numerous posts and even a thread started by Manc that "prove" beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you identify with the Tea Party - in other words if you are not a bleeding heart liberal or socialist or communist or whatever label you want to apply to yourself other than conservative - that you are somehow dumber or less informed than they are.

This post is simply to show that I too can find "proof" with a 2 minute Google search that refutes that claim. Not only did I show that Democrats are ignorant but I even showed that they are ignorant in comparison to Republicans, something which has not been done those who label their opposition as "Tea Baggers."

The point in short is your stupid one-sided poll proves only that some - and you know who you are - are not willing to engage in a debate that shows differences in ideology but instead must resort to painting a one-sided debate that shows only that you hate people that don't think like you. And they say Tea Party members are intolerant?

[manc]

My thread does not say that Tea Party people are less intelligent, it says that they are miles out on the amount of tax most people pay.

Now it may well be that on certain topics Republicans are more clued up, they just lost the election so maybe they are taking extra interest in certain things (eg 'Party with House majority'.

The difference between 5.7 and 5 is fairly small.

It could easily be explained by the fact that Democrat voters are much younger than Republican ones. Your figures show that 50+ year olds (most of whom vote Republican) scored much higher than under 30s (most of whom vote Democrat by 2:1), almost 50% higher in fact.

Some of the questions seemed a bit odd. The biggest difference was on the question of Glen Beck, no surprise there.

Anyway, good try but the demographics are against this argument.

[LagerHead]

My thread does not say that Tea Party people are less intelligent, it says that they are miles out on the amount of tax most people pay.

Now it may well be that on certain topics Republicans are more clued up, they just lost the election so maybe they are taking extra interest in certain things (eg 'Party with House majority'.

The difference between 5.7 and 5 is fairly small.

It could easily be explained by the fact that Democrat voters are much younger than Republican ones. Your figures show that 50+ year olds (most of whom vote Republican) scored much higher than under 30s (most of whom vote Democrat by 2:1), almost 50% higher in fact.

Some of the questions seemed a bit odd. The biggest difference was on the question of Glen Beck, no surprise there.

Anyway, good try but the demographics are against this argument.

Once again you COMPLETELY missed the point of the entire OP even though I spelled it out in no uncertain terms. Not to mention the fact that the poll you referenced in your Tea Party poll says that 75% are older than 45, so they should by your own standard measure better but they didn't. But in this poll they did. So you see, your poll doesn't make you any more right than my poll does.

When it comes to name-calling I can find just as much meaningless B.S. to show that you're an idiot as you can to show that I am. I'd call that a draw.

[manc]

In what way have I missed the point?

You correctly say that 75% of the Tea Party people are over 45 years old. So they should be better informed, not worse. This just shows the degree of misinformation flying about. It actually reinforces just how much propaganda is coming out of Fox etc.

I am not trying to show that anyone is an idiot. I suggest you edit that before the thread gets pulled.

In fact you will notice that I said Tea party people are better educated than average.

[LagerHead]

In what way have I missed the point?

The point, as I very clearly stated in the OP, was not the validity of the poll. The point was that I too could produce dubious evidence that "proves" (note the quotes here indicating that I don't necessarily believe this to be true) that those who disagree with my position are necessarily not as smart as I am. When in fact the poll proves nothing other than the fact that I am willing to be derogatory toward those who hold different beliefs. And if I do that and I claim that "they are the party of intolerance" then what exactly does that say about me?

You correctly say that 75% of the Tea Party people are over 45 years old. So they should be better informed, not worse. This just shows the degree of misinformation flying about. It actually reinforces just how much propaganda is coming out of Fox etc.

Since, as I pointed out above, this is irrelevant to my point, I will ignore this.

I am not trying to show that anyone is an idiot. I suggest you edit that before the thread gets pulled.

There's nothing to edit. I didn't call you, or anyone else an idiot. Sincere apologies if you read it that way. I was merely making a point that I could produce biased data that "shows" (again, note the quotes) that one is an idiot. It doesn't actually prove it except maybe in my own small mind.