– How one in four Americans don’t know who their forefathers declared independence from (Daily Mail, July 2, 2011):
Come Monday fireworks will light up the sky across America and many will enjoy time off work for Independence Day.
But shockingly nearly a quarter of Americans don’t appear to know who exactly they are celebrating independence from – for the second year in a row.
While 76 per cent correctly said Great Britain, 19 per cent were unsure, and 5 per cent mentioned another country.
Last year the same Marist poll showed that 26 per cent of Americans did knot know the answer.
It was young people letting the side down with 67 per cent of those under 30 giving the right country.
This is against 80 per cent of those 60 and older, 77 per cent of those 45 to 59, and 77 per cent of those between 30 and 44.
The men polled were more likely to know the correct answer than the women.
The same poll also showed that only 58 per cent of Americans know that the declaration came in 1776.
Twenty-six per cent were unsure of the date at all and 16 per cent mentioned another date entirely.
Again, younger Americans were the least likely to know the correct answer, according to the Marist poll.
Just 31 per cent of adults younger than 30 said 1776 was the year in which the U.S. broke away from Great Britain.
Those Americans aged 45 to 59 were the age group most likely to have the correct answer.
Among those 60 and older, 60 per cent correctly said 1776 was the right year.
The Northeast of the country faired the best on the question with 64 per cent of those polled getting the right answer.
That was followed by the West on 61 per cent and Midwest on 56 per cent.
The South of the country came last with 55 per cent of those polled getting the year right.
Money also had a lot to do with it. Households on less than $50,000 were less likely to know the correct year than those on $50,000 or more.
In addition men who answered the poll were more likely to get right answer than women.