Politics: What the Public Knows About the Political Parties

Republicans fare substantially better than Democrats on several questions in the survey, as is typically the case in surveys about political knowledge.

The partisan gaps in knowledge are at least partly a consequence of demographic differences. On average, Republicans are older and more affluent than either Democrats or independents, and both of these are associated with knowledge about the parties' positions and leaders.

For more, see What the Public Knows About the Political Parties, April 11, 2012 at Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.