The Center for Individual Freedom CFIF summed up the results:
Out of 12 questions asked, Republicans outperformed both Democrats and Independents on 10. The differences were most pronounced on the questions regarding Common Core, fracking and where Shiites outnumber Sunnis, where the percentage of Republicans answering correctly outpaced Democrats by double digits. But Republicans also outperformed Democrats on questions centering on the federal minimum wage and the Fed Chairwoman, even though she’s a Democrat appointed by Obama, while the minimum wage is Democrats’ favorite wedge issue this election year to try to keep Harry Reid D-Nevada as the Senate Majority Leader.
Democrats only outscored Republicans in naming the primary Ebola outbreak location and the federal poverty rate, but only by 2 and 5 percentage points, respectively.
A sample of Pew’s data:
- Republicans are 16 points more likely than Democrats to answer the Common Core question correctly 58% vs. 42%.
- 57% of Republicans identify the oil industry as a primary driver of growth in North Dakota, compared with 42% of Democrats.
- Just 38% of Republicans and 34% of Democrats know that the unemployment rate is currently closest to 6%. Many Americans overestimate the current unemployment rate: 27% say it is closest to 9%, while an additional 18% think the rate is closest to 12%.
As CFIF pointed out, Republicans outscored Democrats on 11 of 12 items in 2012, outscored them on all 19 questions in 2011 and mirrored this years statistics in 2010.