Well, this is depressing. A version of Jay Walking from "The Tonight Show," but the whole country can play:
Three quarters of Americans can correctly identify two of Snow White's seven dwarfs while only a quarter can name two Supreme Court Justices, according to a poll on pop culture released Monday.
And it just gets worse. More could identify the Three Stooges than could identify the three branches of government. More knew that Superman is from Krypton than know Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. And on an on.
The poll was done by Zogby International, one of those well-known polling firms that go out and ask these same Americans their opinions on important issues of the day. Those same opinions -- not informed ones, we must presume -- are then used for for determining everything from news coverage to federal policy. The polls ought to start carrying disclaimers similar to Frank Zappa's famous description of rock journalism (people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read).
