Elections and picking a candidate or issue seem like easy things to do. But a majority nearly failed a new quiz on election basics, raising concerns that they can fall for disinformation, an alarming situation just a month before Election Day.
The group Reboot told Secrets that it quizzed a select group of voters, asking questions such as, “A citizen’s right to vote is guaranteed by the Constitution?” and “Do political ads have to be truthful?”
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Just 14% were graded a “B” or higher. The average grade was 66%, or D, said the group that promotes thinking. The group also found that most voters use their “critical thinking” on Election Day, but they turned out to be the most confused and skeptical about elections.
“The self-described critical thinkers were less confident in the integrity of elections than other respondents, and they reported having a more difficult time determining the truth about the 2020 election,” said the report.
And that may be because they have an inflated sense of their brain. “These people might be free thinkers, but they’re not critical ones. People use the term ‘critical thinking’ as an after-the-fact justification to convince others — or themselves — that their opinions or behaviors are sound,” according to the report.
Far from being disappointed, the Reboot team found tips to boost voter election knowledge and confidence. One key one: Those who “engage” with local officials, with a meeting or donation, have a better understanding of elections.
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But it did find that a lot of people don’t try to figure out if what they are told is true, and they often go to nonauthoritative sources if they do try to verify information.
Reboot suggested that schools should help show students how to get better informed. “Efforts like ‘pre-bunking’ — preemptively showing people videos about misinformation tactics — must also be coupled with stronger civics education so that voters have a deeper and more nuanced understanding of how elections are run in their communities. Schools must take media literacy and critical thinking education seriously and incorporate teaching these skills across the curriculum. This is actually a popular idea — 70% of this survey’s respondents agreed that, ‘Schools have a responsibility to teach students how to detect and avoid election misinformation,’” said the report.
