Immigrants know more about U.S. government

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CINCINNATI, April 27 (UPI) -- U.S. adults are far less informed about their government than immigrants who take the naturalization test, a group of researchers said Friday.

The Center for the American Dream at Xavier University in Cincinnati conducted a survey that was part poll and part pop quiz. While 97.5 percent of would-be citizens pass the civics portion of the test, many citizens were unable to answer the most basic questions about the Constitution and government.

"We certainly don't expect everyone to know all the answers," said Michael Ford, the center's founding director. "For example, does it matter if we don't know how many amendments there are? No. But almost 60 percent don't even know what an amendment is."

The center found that college graduates do worse than immigrants with 82 percent getting the equivalent of a pass. Among those who graduated from high school or did not finish, the pass rate was only 44 percent.

In spite of the dismal showing, respondents said they believe U.S. citizens should have a knowledge of government. More than three-quarters, 77 percent, said adults should be able to pass the civics test and 60 percent said it should be a requirement for high school graduation.

Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz and Associates surveyed 1,023 native-born adults by telephone from Feb. 29 to March 11. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.