Once again Pew Research surveys on Partisan Differences in Knowledge and finds that Republicans outscore Democrats by an average 18 percentage points.
The survey can be taken here and the results are found at Pew Research here.
The Daily Caller reports on the results of this survey as well as other studies which show that "GOP-sympathizers are better informed, more intellectually consistent, more open-minded, more empathetic and more receptive to criticism than their fellow Americans who support the Democratic Party.
They go on to quote directly from the Pew Research results where it says " Republicans fare substantially better than Democrats on several questions in the survey, as is typically the case in surveys about political knowledge."
DC discusses a previous Pew Research poll from March 12, 2012:
A March 12 Pew study showed that Democrats are far more likely that conservatives to disconnect from people who disagree with them.
“In all, 28% of liberals have blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone on SNS [social networking sites] because of one of these reasons, compared with 16% of conservatives and 14% of moderates,” said the report, tiled “Social networking sites and politics.”
The report also noted that 11 percent of liberals, but only 4 percent of conservatives, deleted friends from their social networks after disagreeing with their politics.
The DC did not link to that poll, but it is found here.
The Pew Research results of the partisan knowledge is not a statistical anomaly, but in fact, is consistent with Pew's Partisan Differences in Knowledge from October 2011 which found:
Republicans generally outperformed Democrats on the current quiz. On 13 out of the 19 questions, Republicans score significantly higher than Democrats and there are no questions on which Democrats did better than Republicans. In past knowledge quizzes, partisan differences have been more muted, though Republicans often have scored somewhat higher than Democrats.
The DC also points to a March 2012 Washington Post poll:
A March Washington Post poll showed that Democrats were more willing to change their views about a subject to make their team look good. For example, in 2006, 73 percent of Democrats said the GOP-controlled White House could lower gas prices, but that number fell by more than half to 33 percent in 2012 once a Democrat was in the White House.
In contrast, the opinions of GOP supporters were more consistent. Their collective opinion shifted by only a third, according to the data. In 2006, 47 percent in believed the White House could influence gas prices. By 2012, that number had risen to 65 percent up 17 points compared to the Democrats’ 40 point shift.
Again, the DC didn't link to the poll but the Wapo article showing the graphs and comparisons that the DC reports on is found here.
