voters are stupid
I’ve said before that voters are stupid. If you need more proof of the general population’s lack of qualifications, The Florida Bar says over 40% of Florida residents could NOT name the three branches of government. More than 60% do not know what “separation of powers” means. 39% are clueless about “checks and balances.”
90% believe these things are important. Just not to them, I guess.
Tags: citizens, incredible, politics, tampa
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January 12th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
I am floored.
January 12th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
I would love to be shocked by these statistics. But I’m not. Too many people are either willfully ignorant or willfully permissive to vote properly. When I go to the polls, if I don’t think I have enough information on a specific race, I won’t vote in that race. How can I make an informed decision? I try to avoid that as much as possible, by reading the newspaper, learning about candidates, being informed. But why should everyone do that? Just listen to talk radio, or read the internet. They spend the time to do the research, right? They can tell you what’s best for you, right?
January 12th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
Why is a study about politics being combined with one about personal banking knowledge any way?
Ta-dunk.
But seriously folks.
January 12th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
The Tampa chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State (http://www.autampa.org) became interested in finding out exactly what our kids learn in civics class after we read a survey of high school kids who said that the First Amendment “goes too far.” We wondered what, exactly, is the Hillsborough County Public School system teaching our students in terms of government, and how can these students become so clueless as adults. We met with Dennis Holt, Superintendent of Social Studies for Secondary Schools for Hillsborough, and he was entirely cooperative in sharing the middle school and high school social studies curricula with us. Believe it or not, these kids DO learn the three branches of American federal government. They DO learn the Bill of Rights and at least a passing familiarity with the Constitution. They DO learn that as citizens, they have civic responsibilities, including informed voting.
What happens when they grow up? Maybe it’s because this stuff isn’t on the FCAT. Maybe it’s because groups like Moveon.org or the NRA only provide those handy voting little guides for state and federal elections. Maybe it’s apathy or disgust. Maybe it’s because the barium from chemtrails has reduced their brain function to that of a six year old. Who knows?
January 12th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
What do you expect? We do not teach kids about government. I think that the word “stupid” is too harsh. Ignorant is more like it.
January 12th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
Though how the U.S. government works may be presented, or “taught”, it doesn’t mean students learn the material. Too often anything to do with government is met with the question “Why do I need to know this stuff? It’s not important.” Despite all the schools’ best efforts kids learn what interests them, or what their peers and families find important. Take ten kids off the street, ask them “What is the Super Bowl and how is it important?” They will all give an answer that would earn full credit on a test. Ask the same ten kids “What is Independence Day and how is it significant?” and I’m willing to bet you’d only be able to give any points to most of the kids if you included fireworks as an essential element.
January 12th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
The education system is a mess because anyone with half a brain knows they can make a hell of a lot more money doing something else. This goes from top to bottom. Civic ignorance is tied complete to a respect developed in school. If we want more civicly-informed citizens, we need to put people who are informed about public affairs TO BEGIN WITH in the administrations and classrooms of our schools.
January 12th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
“you’d only be able to give any points to most of the kids if you included fireworks as an essential element”
Aren’t fireworks good for *any* holiday now? I thought that distinction kinda blurred a while ago.
January 12th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
What Tim says is true. I graduated from the public school system four years ago and my American government teacher didn’t have much of a clue about the subject. We spent most of the time doing current events from the newspaper and playing games for extra points.
January 14th, 2006 at 1:10 am
It’s not “voters are stupid.”
It’s “Floridians are stupid.”
January 14th, 2006 at 10:25 am
If you read the article, those statistics correspond with a nationwide study done a couple years ago. Florida is no more clueless than anywhere else.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I have to agree that most Florida voters are just ignorant. They did make Jeb Bush their governor twice. And what percentage of Florida’s residents are older than dirt??