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Name Recognition

by THE AMERICAN last modified Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Oprah, John McCain, Harry Reid, and more.

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The Pew Research Center recently asked Americans to identify a number of political figures. Fifty-six percent knew that Senator John McCain represented Arizona, while 19 percent said he represented New Hampshire, and 9 percent said Colorado. Forty percent correctly named Howard Dean as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, but only 24 percent were able to identify Harry Reid as the Senate majority leader. While 35 percent knew that Ben Bernanke was chairman of the Federal Reserve (a number nearly identical to the 33 percent who said so in September), over a quarter (27 percent) thought Alan Greenspan still held the job. A significant 84 percent correctly identified Oprah Winfrey as the talk show host who campaigned for Barack Obama. Source: Pew Research Center, February 2008.

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