Star of David More Widely Recognized Than Twitter Icon
Image by thinkstock
By Anne Cohen February 16, 2013
Nearly nine in ten Americans, or 87% of people surveyed, correctly identified the Star of David as a Jewish symbol, a new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and Press showed.
Image by thinkstock
The Twitter birdie, on the other hand, was recognized by 79% respondents to the poll as the social media company’s corporate logo.
These findings come from an updated version of the Pew Center’s regular News IQ Quiz, which seeks to identify the level of public knowledge about political, and popular issues using pictures, maps, graphics and symbols. This version of the study was conducted online January 18-24, 2013, among a random sample of 1,041 adults. A previous version of the quiz was conducted in October 2011.
The question about religious symbols asked respondents to choose between four symbols associated with various religions and identify the one associated with Judaism. Among the choices were the Crescent and Star of Islam, the Christian cross, and the Om traditionally associated with Hinduism.
In the October 2011, the religious symbols question focused on the same four symbols, but asked respondents to identify the one associated with Islam. Only 42% of respondents correctly clicked on the Crescent and Star.
At the low end of the spectrum, only 43% of respondents could distinguish Elizabeth Warren’s picture from those of Nancy Pelosi, Tammi Baldwin and Deb Fischer, and only half were able to identify Syria as a country highlighted on a map of the Middle East.
Two-thirds or more of respondents were able to correctly answer 7 out of 13 questions. The report adds that people who took the quiz answered 8.5 out of 13 on average, which comes to a score of 65% if “graded like a classroom test.”
How much do you know? Take the quiz here and find out.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
