December 2018 – A survey released in October by Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation used sample questions taken directly from the U.S. Citizenship Test. The survey found that only one out of three Americans could correctly answer the required 60% needed to pass the national citizenship test.
Conducted by Lincoln Park Strategies, the multiple-choice survey found that only 13% of 1,000 individuals polled nationwide knew when the U.S. Constitution was ratified, with most participants erroneously choosing 1776 as its date of ratification.
More than half of those questioned did not know which countries fought in World War II or how many justices serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. And 72% of respondents could not positively identify America’s original 13 states.
“Unfortunately, this study found the average American to be woefully uninformed regarding America’s history and incapable of passing the U.S. Citizenship Test,” said Arthur Levine, president of the foundation.
