JM: Yet you argue that when using the term political ignorance you do not mean stupidity or apathy. The fact that most people do not know is a strong indication of their ignorance about politics and public policy generally. It is not that familiarity with these terms is absolutely essential-it’s that anyone who follows politics even moderately closely is likely to know them. But one good example of the extent of public ignorance is that only about 34% of Americans can even name the three branches of the federal government: executive, legislative, and judicial. What matters far more is the cumulative weight of widespread political ignorance across a wide range of issues. Ilya Somin: No one survey question is all that important by itself. I have some of my favorite examples (one third of Americans think that foreign aid is the government’s largest expense, and nearly half of Americans think cap and trade has to do with healthcare or financial regulation instead of the environment), but what do you think is the most powerful statistic to back up your central thesis? Jared Meyer: You provide a lot of numbers in your book to show just how clueless Americans are when it comes to what is happening in Washington.
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