Polls

 According to the I am among the most informed people in the country. Why? Because I watch fake news and I know the identity of the man who usurped the office of vice president of the United States:

 Americans may have more news outlets today than two decades ago, but they still don’t know much more about current events than they did then, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

But here’s one big difference: the survey respondents who seemed to know the most about what’s going on — who were able to identify major public figures, for example — were likely to be viewers of fake news programs like Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report”; those who knew the least watched network morning news programs, Fox News or local television news.

Only 69 percent of people in the latest survey could come up with Dick Cheney when asked to name the vice president; in 1989, 74 percent could name Dan Quayle. Fewer could name the governor of their state (66 percent now compared with 74 percent in 1989) and fewer could name the president of Russia (36 percent now compared with 47 percent before).

It may come as no surprise that even by these rather lax standards, people who are least informed watch Fox News.

But before my left leaning readers let their heads swell too much, look at whose breathing down our necks:

The six news sources cited most often by people who knew the most about current events were: “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” (counted as one), tied with Web sites of major newspapers; next came “News Hour With Jim Lehrer”; then “The O’Reilly Factor,” which was tied with National Public Radio; and Rush Limbaugh’s radio program. 

So, while we're number one, two and three, (Gold, Silver and Bronze) they're tied for fourth (Tin, I guess). Of course, if you listen to Rush Limbaugh it stands to reason that you would know the vice president's name, since it's one of the few shows he appears on. Anyway, I'm at sea hear, since I always thought that the people who listen to Rush are the same people who watch Fox. Are there really enough people with dead brains to keep both of those propaganda mills in business?

Speaking of polls, Bush has hit a new low in this LA Times Poll (pdf) , from which we learn that the number of people who strongly disapprove of Bush's performance (46%), as opposed to only disapproving somewhat (16%) exceeds the total number of people who approve somewhat or strongly (36%). While this is surely good news for the Democrats, in terms of the next election, it is very bad or the country as a whole, when one considers the monumental stupidity necessary to produce a 36% per cent approval rating for the worst president in history.

The same poll gives Congress a 34% approval rating. That might sound bad, given that it's lower than Bush's, but in fact it's rather meaningless. It's an American tradition to scorn Congress as an institution. You might be able to get meaningful data by asking people if they approve of the job their own Congressperson is doing, and then do some comparisons Democrat vs. Republican.