We are all aware of polls and probably have seen many that we agree with the results of and others that we look at with a skeptical eye wondering, "Can the majority of people actually think that way?"

We've all looked at polls and likely understand how the questions are asked, what subjects they tend to cover and all that. I contend that the polls are only as reliable as the inherent bias which is unavoidable in the subject and questions being asked and how they are asked as well as the respondendents level of education regarding the subjects being asked. So, I conclude from this that we indeed see a rather reliable response if we are interested in what general populations believe. However, it would be quite interesting to first see how well educated the respondents are regarding the issues being asked.

What led me to wonder this was the following little quiz at the pew research centers website:

Pew News IQ

Take the quiz. What percentile do you fall into?

Imagine a simple quiz like this being asked of teh potential respondents as the first part of a poll. Then imagine the actual poll questions are asked. Wouldn't it be interesting to see how the responses align with the level of understanding the respondents had?

I'd like to see what the responses would look like for many of these national poll questions if asked of people in the top 25th percentile, for instance. It would be nice to know what the people with a clue think rather than a general poll of people that, by default, will include people who are not wellversed in political issues.

Your thoughts are appreciated.