Yes, it was an easy quiz. Elementary, even.

Yes, several of the questions are hardly “political”. They had to include certain questions (“Mark Zuckerberg”?) so that certain segments of the population would register with a pulse.

But the results of our self-selected, non-scientific and adulterated test of the RedState community, is in: of over 1,400 participants, half scored a perfect 11/11 on the quiz. That’s in the upper 2% of Pew’s random sample of adults. Another 38% scored 10/11, so 88% of the RedState community is in the top 10% of the population in terms of “Political IQ” (if you accept Pew’s definition).

Hooray.

But what do the results mean, and what can we learn from them?

First, let’s look at some other results. First, the score for Pew’s sample of 1,004 adults. Fully a third of them scored 4 or fewer correct, a range of scores you’d expect from random guessing.

Several of you asked about the results by political orientation. Most of the demographic breakdowns are available at Pew’s site.

The gap in knowledge by age is greater:

The big policy issues that should be motivating people at the polls in 2012 — jobs, energy, entitlements, etc. — are precisely the issues that Obama’s base of 18 to 29 year old voters scores poorly on. There’s every indication that the better informed people are on these topics, the more conservative they will vote. They will be voting more on the issues, and less on personalities and Hope and Change.

Which puts an obligation on all of us. Whether we want the role or not, by our participation and interest we have become among the more highly informed voters.

And whether or not we realize it, our knowledge puts us in a position of influence among family, friends, coworkers and acquaintences.

We have all learned a lot, but we must also pass along what we’ve learned. You, dear reader, can have more influence than you know.

Cross-posted at stevemaley.com.

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