Tipsheet

What Common Misconceptions do Americans Have About Republicans?

The Pew Research Center has a little news quiz that can be taken online to "test your political news IQ." It's full of pretty simple questions that I'm sure Townhall readers would nail, but what's revealing are the percentages of right and wrong for some of the answers. Specifically, it's telling that the questions that are most incorrect are on things that the GOP struggles with in the media.

The number one missed question is "which political party is generally more supportive of reducing the size and scope of the federal government?" Only 53% of people get this question right. It's supposed to be the Republican Party, but voters could be forgiven for forgetting that. After all, during the George W. Bush years the country experienced one of the largest health care expansions ever in Medicare Part D, a financial bailout that seemingly consisted of a blank check to Hank Paulson, and an auto bailout that is the polar opposite of how a free market should work.

Of course, President Obama has shown even less fealty to the concept of a non-interventionist government, but the GOP has strayed quite a long ways from its Reagan roots in skepticism of big government.

The second-most-missed question is "which political party did Abraham Lincoln belong to?" With the media portrayal of Republicans as inherently racist, evil people, it's not surprising that Americans don't remember that the man who abolished slavery was the original Republican.

All in all, the quiz is fun and reveals the median attitude of Americans who take online political quizzes.