Unless you can link to the study cited by the WaPo reporter, I'm not buying what you're trying to sell based on what I found on the Pew Research Center web site for 2012, cited above.
It seems too easy, but some things really are that easy.
The WaPo link is just an obituary, written by Marc Fisher, who should know better. Unfortunately (for purposes of misinformation & misdirection), Pew has also earned a glowing reputation, so we treat them with an earned respect.
That's why the substance is important. And in this case, "substance" is the key concept.
The survey doesn't seek to determine depth of knowledge, but breadth of general topical awareness.
i.e. how well the participants might perform in a trivia contest. Do they know that Republicans control the house? Do they know who Tom Foley/Nancy Pelosi is. Do they know that Chief Justice Roberts is conservative?
That last question is qualified later in the survey as CJR being "generally considered to be" conservative, but you can see the problematic subjectivity in either stance. Whose general consideration prevails? Because the NPR audience would say he is, for sure. The Rush people who demand that he be hanged, because he's a communist.
PDF warning
http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/legacy-pdf/319.pdfThe NPR crowd probably got docked some points for not knowing who Peyton Manning and Beyonce are. And of course, you find celebrity clickbait on all but the highest-brow publications. Kardashians drive clicks, as do royal marriage problems ... and car wrecks.
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