THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 2, 1996 TAG: 9602020020
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Name the chief justice of the United States and you're part of a political elite - 6 percent of Americans. A mere 24 percent know both their state's U.S. senators. Only six in 10 can name the vice president. Which mutes the humor of the joke about the woman with two sons: One went to sea; the other became vice president, and neither was heard from again. Finally, 58 percent of the people think Washington spends more on foreign aid than on Medicare.
These are measures of political ignorance gleaned from a survey taken by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University.
Deplorable? Depressing? Frightening?
All of the above.
A low knowledge level is scary in part because it skews elections - the survey found that the least informed often vote for candidates with whom they unknowingly disagree on the issues - and in part because those who know least are, for example, twice as likely as those who know most to believe that a major war is more likely today than 10 years ago. Or to assume that government does nothing right. Or that air and water quality have worsened when in fact they have improved.
Interpreters of these and other poll results come to a number of unhappy conclusions. For one, demands of modern life leave little time for keeping oneself informed. Which brings to mind Sen. Bill Bradley's story about a man downsized out of a good job who, when told a million new jobs had been created during the Clinton administration, said: ``Yeah, my wife and I have four of them.''
In the short term we can do little to ease the plight of those many American families forced by economic restructuring to work harder and longer. But the high number of the ill-informed is due in part to apathy and cynicism that many politicians, office seekers and officeholders alike, fuel. Who can blame voters for turning out mean-spirited campaigners who, in one 30-second commercial, can spout more falsehood than biblical liar Ananias? Or being turned off when White House and Congress close down the government because they can't reach an understanding on the budget?
It's within the power - if not in the will - of politicians to attract potential voters, not alienate them.
Similarly, experts contend that the media contribute to an ignorance-breeding apathy by focusing on trivia and otherwise failing to cover political/governmental news adequately. Television carries a heavy duty to inform responsibly because 58 percent of those polled say they get most of their political and governmental information from the tube.
But 24 percent said they still rely primarily on newspapers, and these readers know little more than TV watchers. So we need also to do a better job.
And we can make a modest start here. William H. Rehnquist is chief justice. Al Gore is vice president. Virginia's and North Carolina's U.S. senators are, respectively, John W. Warner and Charles S. Robb and Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth. The country spends 6.5 times more on Medicare than on foreign aid. by CNB