Rice for brains Top Stories
Kellyanne Conway, president and CEO of the Polling Company in Washington, is still shaking her head over the results of her new poll showing the nation is vastly unaware of who - or even how many - justices sit on the United States Supreme Court.
Nearly two-thirds of 800 Americans polled could not name a single member of the current court and just 32 percent knew that there are nine justices. Only five persons in the entire survey could name all nine.
In contrast, a whopping majority - 75 percent - knew there are three Rice Krispies characters and 66 percent proudly cited their names: Snap, Crackle and Pop.
"While pundits left and right breathlessly claim that 'Americans are gravely concerned' about the composition and opinions of the Supreme Court, one might expect some fundamental knowledge among the masses," Mrs. Conway says. "Sure, Kellogg's spends more in advertising than the court, but no one runs around proclaiming (apparently unknowingly) that Snap, Crackle and Pop are threatening their right to choose or steal elections."
Sandra Day O'Connor was the most frequently cited justice by both men and women (27 percent and 22 percent respectively), while the total name recall for Justices Stephen Breyer (3 percent) and John Paul Stevens (2 percent) was lower than the poll's margin of error.
Blacks were more likely to remember Clarence Thomas (26 percent) than other justices, but were no more likely to offer his name than whites or Hispanics.
And if you thought we government junkies here in the East are more likely to know the makeup of the nation's highest court, think again. Americans in the Mountain and Pacific regions were more likely to know the correct number of justices (39 percent and 37 percent respectively).
The nine justices are: Sandra Day O'Connor, Clarence Thomas, William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony M. Kennedy, David H. Souter, Stephen G. Breyer, and John Paul Stevens.