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CNN Poll Reveals The Abysmal State Of American Innumeracy

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So what’s the explanation — is it GOP demonization and media agenda-setting theory in action? How else to explain why so many Americans think that The Center for Public Broadcasting (NPR/PBS) gets a whopping 5 percent of the federal budget (CNN poll, pdf)?

In actuality, it’s 0.01 percent, which is less than a buck-fifty per person.

The CNN poll was conducted mid-March and reveals that “the median guess on what percentage of the federal budget goes to public broadcasting was 5%.”

Keep this in mind the next time you read any public opinion poll — or listen to a pandering politician cite one — about American voters beliefs on whether an agency or program budget should be increased or decreased.

About one-in-four (27%) knew that CPB accounts for less than 1 percent of the federal budget. How much less, we can’t tell from this poll data. Another one-in-four think that CPB accounts for more than 10 percent of the federal budget! Holy cow! Last year’s budget was $3.55 trillion — that would be approximately $355 billion. The actual CPB budget last year: about $420 million. That’s three orders of magnitude, if anyone’s counting.

Back in February, the Republican-led House of Representatives voted to cut all financing for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the fiscal 2013 budget. The The Kansas City Star (what a hotbed of liberalism, that), noted at the time:

However, the money saved from cutting all Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds — $430 million — would be barely a rounding error in the federal budget.

But according to Rep. Jim DeMint (R-SC), the “muppet lobby” will “[film] commercials to hype ObamaCare.” Furthermore, he says, “[p]ublicly funded media simply has no place in our modern, tech-savvy society.” What percentage of PBS/NPR station airtime goes to “news” versus “entertainment”? I’d wager it’s bigger than “cable news” stations, since most of their “news” is pontificating talking heads, not reporting.

This isn’t the first time that the GOP has tried to ax CPB. After Republicans captured both the U.S. House and Senate in 1994, they tried and failed. Here’s a quote from the 1995 debate from the Washington Times:

“In today’s budget climate, [the agency’s] $300 million annual subsidy simply cannot be justified. CPB officials must face this reality and reinvent their system,” said Sen. Larry Pressler, South Dakota Republican.

Public Broadcasting Around The World

  • Australia (population: 21.9M) – The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is funded entirely by the government.
  • Canada (population: 33.7M ) – In 2007/8, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation received $946 million from the government for French language and English language services.
  • Japan (population: 127.6M ) – NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is funded through a household/device licensing fee.
  • Germany (population: 82M) – Public TV and radio stations account for about 60 percent of the ~ €10 Billion spent annually on broadcasting in Germany.
  • United Kingdom (population: 60.6M ) – The BBC is the largest broadcast news organization in the world; revenue, £3.8 Billion from household TV licensing fees and government grants.
  • United States (population: 311M) – The Corporation for Public Broadcasting budget for fiscal 2010 was about $420 million.

Data from Wikipedia