What do Americans know and not know?

I like to begin each semester with a look at the latest studies measuring the level of knowledge American have of basic facts about government and politics. The Pew Research Center measures political knowledge regularly. Aside from studying how much people know overall, they look at difference between people based on age, education and party affiliation, among other things.

- If you want to take one of their quizzes, click here.

Here are links to some of recent studies:

- What the Public Knows — In Pictures, Words, Maps and Graphs.
- From ISIS to Unemployment: What Do Americans Know?
- What the Public Knows about the Political Parties.

Here are graphs from the last study. It shows only slim majorities are aware of what positions each major party takes on major issues - which can be a problem if you want to cast meaningful votes.