Are You Smarter Than an American?

The Pew Research Center released its "What the Public Knows" study Thursday, illustrating that pretty much everyone in America recognizes that one photo of Edward Snowden, and nobody knows what's going on with the Dow Jones Index. Pew asked a wide range of respondents 13
"news IQ" questions, to determine how well Americans know what's going on in the world. Majorities got 5 out of 13 right on the quiz, which asked about public policy, geography, tech innovations, and famous people. It seems like Pew tried to throw a few more toughies in there this time — most people did a lot better on Pew's January quiz (majorities got 11 out of 13 questions right).

Pew asked about respondents' education levels, and unsurprisingly, those with a college degree were "more likely than those with a high school degree or less to answer every question correctly." Pew also notes that on past quizzes, younger people were less likely to know about current events. On this quiz, however, the results were more mixed. For example, people under the age of 30 more often correctly identified those states that have legalized gay marriage.

If you want a chance to show off your current affairs knowledge, you can try our mini-quiz below, made up of questions from the study, or take Pew's full quiz over here. 

What country is this?

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Correct! You are among the 49 percent of Americans who got this right.

Wrong. You are among the 51 percent of Americans who got this incorrect.

Who is this person?

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Correct! You are among the 77 percent of Americans who got this right.

Wrong. You are among the 23 percent of Americans who got this incorrect.

Which one of these men is Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida? [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error]

Correct! You are among the 52 percent of Americans who got this right.

Wrong. You are among the 48 percent of Americans who got this incorrect.

What percent of Congress is comprised of women?

Correct! You are among the 47 percent of Americans who got this right.

Wrong. You are among the 53 percent of Americans who got this incorrect.