Voters struggle to answer basic questions about GOP field

More than half of voters can’t name which state will hold its presidential primary after Iowa and New Hampshire this year, nor can they identify the GOP presidential contender who opposes U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.

A new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press posed four questions to 1,507 adults and 1,165 registered voters between Jan. 4 and Jan. 8: Which GOP candidate served as speaker of the House?; Mitt Romney was governor of…; after Iowa and New Hampshire, next primary is in…; and which GOP candidate opposes U.S. involvement in Afghanistan?

Forty-three percent of voters answered at least three of the questions correctly, compared with just 16% of non-voters. Voters were least able to name the candidate who opposes U.S. involvement in Afghanistan (Ron Paul), and to name the (upcoming) primary that follows nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire (South Carolina).

A slim majority -- 53% -- knew that Mitt Romney was the governor of Massachusetts. Even more -- 69% -- knew that Newt Gingrich was the candidate who used to be speaker of the House.

College graduates were more likely than non-college grads to answer three of the four questions correctly. Republican and Republican-leaning voters were better able than Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters to answer each of the questions.

Among Republicans, supporters of the tea party were far more likely to answer the questions correctly compared with other GOP voters.

Seventy-three percent of voters who support the tea party were able to answer at least three questions correctly, compared with just 31% of voters who do not identify as tea party supporters.

kim.geiger@latimes.com