According to a recent online survey conducted by The Bridge, as many as 48 percent of respondents could not correctly identify the newly-elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, D-CA.
The Bridge can be seen online at www.thebridgenewspaper.com
As part of the online survey, participants were asked to correctly identify the Speaker of the House from a list of notable politicians: Ted Kennedy, Ann Richards, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Phil Gramm.
Because of the non-scientific nature of the online survey, 50 TAMIU students were also chosen at random for in-person polling in order to further validate the online survey’s findings.
While online results showed Nancy Pelosi with 52 percent of the vote with Kennedy, Richards, Clinton, Hutchinson and Gramm receiving 12, 8, 16, 8, and 4 percent, respectively, the in-person survey returned the same 52 percent for Pelosi but slightly higher numbers for Graham and Hutchinson, with 10 and 14 percent, respectively.
Consistent with the online survey, 52 percent of those questioned were able to correctly identify the Speaker of the House, whereas the other 48 percent could not.
Again, as with the online survey, where she received 8 percent of the total vote, former Texas Governor Ann Richards, managed to garner 12 percent of the in-person votes, despite the fact that she died in September 2006.
Senators Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton also received 12 and 16 percent of the online votes, respectively, despite serving in the Senate and, therefore, being ineligible for concurrent election within the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I think it’s very disappointing mainly because you have a lot of people complaining about what’s going on in Iraq, for example, yet half the people, including myself, couldn’t answer a simple question,” said Amelia B. Guzman, a junior Communication major.
Jeremy Bedwell, a political science major, seemed equally disappointed.
“I think, for a whole bunch of college kids, this is unacceptable because we’re supposed to be educated enough to know what’s going on,” Bedwell said.
Asked to comment on the survey’s findings, Dr. James A. Norris, associate professor of political science, seemed more optimistic.
“It’s actually not that bad,” said Norris, pointing out that while only 52 percent of the student population managed to correctly identify Nancy Pelosi as the U.S. Speaker of the House, maybe only 33 – 40 percent of the population-at-large would have been able to correctly answer the same question.
In Norris’ view, the fact that TAMIU serves a diverse student population, often comprised of international students who may be unfamiliar with, or otherwise lack substantial exposure to, American politics should also be taken into consideration.
According to Norris, the fact that more than half of those surveyed managed to correctly identify the Speaker of the House should, therefore, be seen as a positive, especially when judged in comparison to the general public.
“College students may be more informed than the general public,” Norris pointed out.