I don’t pay much attention to polls, or polka music for that matter, but a recent survey caught my very limited attention.

The Zogby International poll surveyed Americans’ understanding of pop culture, and how it compared to their general knowledge of civics, literature, and science.

For instance, of the 1,200 adults surveyed, 60 percent of them were able to name Bart as Homer Simpson’s son on “The Simpsons” television program.

Meanwhile, just over 20 percent were able to identify one of Greek poet Homer’s epic poems.

The same 60 percent knew Superman’s home planet (Krypton) but only 37 percent knew Mercury was the planet closest to the sun.

Nearly 80 percent of respondents could name at least two dwarfs from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” while only 24 percent could name two U.S. Supreme Court Justices (Ruth Bader Ginsberg and David Souter were correct answers to both questions).

And the one that had all the curmudgeons crowing: 74 percent of Americans surveyed could identify Moe, Larry and Curly as the Three Stooges, while only 42 percent could identify the three branches of the U.S. government.

This poll had all the bloggers blogging and the columnists columnizing about how “stupid” Americans are, and how we are dumber than the rest of the world, and how we are stupid dummies, and stupidheads, and stupid dummies too, and other words I found too hard to read and stuff.

Allow me to offer some alternative observations.

First of all, one reason more people could name the Three Stooges than the three branches of our government is that the Stooges are much more competent than our government has ever been. Americans recognize and appreciate competency, unless, of course, they are voting.

Secondly, 42 percent knew the three branches of the government to be the, uh, (looking it up), ah, yes, executive, legislative, and judicial. I think that’s great! That’s almost (looking it up again) half!

But I was absolutely elated that 74 percent could name three of the Stooges.

Curly died in 1952 and last appeared in a Three Stooges feature in 1947, and people still recognize him nearly 60 years later. That’s quite a legacy, and memory for those of you who answered it correctly. Congratulations!

My third observation is that the question itself is rather deceptive, and thus, the results highly questionable.

For instance, if you answered “Moe, Larry and Joe Besser,” was that considered correct? Or instead of Curly, you responded with Shemp or Curly Joe? All of those answers are, literally, right, although Shemp, Curly Joe and Joe Besser were poor excuses for Stooges, and certainly not in Curly Howard’s comedic category.

And the three branches of government question is also faulty. Title II of the Patriot Act actually changed the three branches of the U.S. government from the executive, legislative, and judicial to the executive, legislative, and Karl Rove’s office.

See how that could be confusing to some poll participants? They could have answered George W. Bush, Congress, and Karl Rove and, technically, gotten both questions correct.

Now you know why I don’t pay much attention to polls.



• Len Robbins is the editor/publisher of The Clinch County News.