3 Stooges More Familiar than 3 Branches of Gov't

Polling firm Zogby International yesterday released a poll of 1,213 Americans comparing their pop culture knowledge to, well, slightly weightier knowledge. Guess which one won?

Over three-quarters (77%) knew the names of two of Snow White's seven dwarfs, but less than a quarter (24%) knew the names of two Supreme Court justices.

57 percent knew who Harry Potter was, just slightly ahead of the 50 percent who knew who Tony Blair was.

Sixty percent knew that Homer Simpson's son is named Bart. But when asked the name of one of the epic poems by the Homer of Greek mythology, only one in five could name "The Odyssey" or "The Iliad."

Professor Robert Thompson, of the Bleier Centre for Television and Popular Culture, commented that "these results are not about how 'dumb' Americans are, but about how much more effectively popular culture information is communicated and retained by citizens than many of the messages that come from government, educational institutions and the media. There are important lessons to be learned here."

Those of you still styied by the three branches of government question, here it is: judicial, executive and legislative. Now you can sleep easy at night.