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The Home of Evolutioneers

Poll: Americans educated in pop culture, not civil liberties

Only o­ne of the 1,000 adults polled in the telephone survey could name all five freedoms guaranteed under the First Amendment. Yet more than o­ne in five (22 percent) could identify all five major characters in Matt Groening's cartoon family.

Similarly, o­nly 8 people in 100 could name at least three First Amendment freedoms. Four in 10 surveyed (40 percent) could name two of the three judges o­n the star-making show American Idol, and o­ne in four (25 percent) could name all three.

"These survey results clearly demonstrate that many Americans don't have an understanding of the freedoms they regularly enjoy,"Dave Anderson, the Chicago museum's executive director, said in a written statement.

The new museum, which will open its doors in April, wants to help people understand their constitutional freedoms, especially those protected by the First Amendment. There is a lot of work to do.

Survey respondents wrongly said that the First Amendment guarantees rights to own and raise pets (21 percent), to drive (20 percent) and of women to vote (36 percent). The first two are not rights at all, and women's suffrage was not enshrined in the Constitution until ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Grab your pen. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, the press, and religion, as well as the rights to peacefully assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

By CHRISTOPHER LEE
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