Most Americans can't pass the citizenship test

Most Americans support requiring high school students to pass the citizenship test to graduate, but can't themselves pass a sample test

Arizona has become the first state to require that all high school students wanting to collect their diploma pass the same test on civics and US history that is given to immigrants seeking to become naturalized citizens. Up to 17 other states are expected to follow suit. The test requires that new immigrants answer at least 60 questions out of 100 correctly in order to be allowed to become citizens.

YouGov's latest research shows that, when asked, 67% of Americans say that they 'definitely' or 'probably' could pass the test on civics and US history which is given to naturalized citizens. The test requires 60 correct answers out of 100, but when a nationally representative sample of Americans were asked a shorter quiz of ten questions, fewer than half could answer six or more correctly. 47% managed to pass, while 53% failed. 15% just failed, getting five right and five wrong, but 38% got most of the questions wrong.

The question which people were most likely to answering incorrectly was 'Which of these groups of states were all members of the 13 original colonies?'. 52% answered 'New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Virginia and Maryland' but only 25% got the right answer which is 'Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island, Georgia and New Jersey'. 84% of people did know, however, that the Constitution does not grant states the right to print money, declare war or create an army but rather the right to approve zoning and land use.

Older Americans were more likely than younger Americans to pass, though only among over-65s did most (60%) manage to get six or more answers correct. Only 40% of under-30s passed, along with 37% of people aged 30 to 44 and 48% of those between the ages of 45 and 64. Republicans (52%) were also more likely than either independents (46%) or Democrats (41%) to pass the citizenship test.

65% of Americans support requiring high school students to pass the test for naturalized citizens in order to graduate from high school. Support is highest (80%) among Republicans, but most Democrats (62%) and independents (58%) also back the proposal.

Full poll results can be found here.