Half of USA doesn't know Puerto Ricans are US citizens

[Supersonic 49,376]

A new poll of 2,200 adults by Morning Consult found that only 54 percent of Americans know that people born in Puerto Rico, a commonwealth of the United States, are U.S. citizens. (Because Puerto Rico is not a state, they do not vote in presidential elections, but they send one nonvoting representative to Congress.)

Inaccurate beliefs on this question matter, because Americans often supportcuts to foreign aid when asked to evaluate spending priorities. In our poll, support for additional aid was strongly associated with knowledge of the citizenship status of Puerto Ricans. More than 8 in 10 Americans who know Puerto Ricans are citizens support aid, compared with only 4 in 10 of those who do not.

But when a random sample of participants was informed that Puerto Ricans were U.S. citizens before answering this question, support for aid increased four percentage points, to 68 percent. These effects were especially large for Republicans (+9 percentage points), Trump voters (+10 percentage points) and Hispanic respondents (+12 percentage points). For example, 67 percent of Trump voters who saw a prompt informing them that Puerto Ricans were U.S. citizens supported additional aid, compared with 57 percent who did not see the prompt.

 

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/upshot/nearly-half-of-americans-dont-know-people-in-puerto-ricoans-are-fellow-citizens.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

 

 

[Morphine Prince 109,654]

Americans uninformed about basic facts? 

You don't say. 

[pedrohemg 7,802]

Half of USA doesn't even know there's a world outside US, that their "football" isn't popular in other countries, their top athletes aren't the most famous in the world, etc, etc, etc.

[Morphine Prince 109,654]

Just now, pedrohemg said:

Half of USA doesn't even know there's a world outside US, that their "football" isn't popular in other countries, their top athletes aren't the most famous in the world, etc, etc, etc.

So many people here don't even know how popular soccer (football) is in the world. 

[GypsyBabe 22,836]

Some people are just really really dumb 

[migamiga 12,102]

 

[weed 78,901]

Lol tbh I didn't know they were US citizens until somewhat recently... I just thought they used the US dollar but that's it. Call me stupid lol oh well, I spent half my life in and half outside the US and have never been taught anything about any US territories.

[Cuchulainn 3,040]

I think people know it’s not a state so they just assume they aren’t citizens. Most people don’t think about these things.

[tomsches 17,550]

It's sad that I'm not even surprised at this point

[Supersonic 49,376]

9 minutes ago, neptugne said:

Lol tbh I didn't know they were US citizens until somewhat recently... I just thought they used the US dollar but that's it. Call me stupid lol oh well, I spent half my life in and half outside the US and have never been taught anything about any US territories.

I mean, it's no wonder they didn't teach you about it. Puerto Ricans have to pay taxes and fulfill every requirement any other US citizen has to do, while not being allowed to vote in the presidential elections (unless they move to the main territory) and not being allowed to sent an actual representative to the Congress.

It doesn't take a genius to realize, that this is kinda not fair. So the people in power just keep quiet about it. Especially the Republicans, because the possibility of Puerto Rico becoming an actual state would greatly tip over the Electoral College (which has always been in favor of the Republicans).

[Eggsy 8,280]

1 minute ago, Supersonic said:

I mean, it's no wonder they didn't teach you about it. Puerto Ricans have to pay taxes and fulfill every requirement any other US citizen has to do, while not being allowed to vote in the presidential elections (unless they move to the main territory) and not being allowed to sent an actual representative to the Congress.

It doesn't take a genius to realize, that this is kinda not fair. So the people in power just keep quiet about it. Especially the Republicans, because the possibility of Puerto Rico becoming an actual state would greatly tip over the Electoral College (which has always been in favor of the Republicans).

I just wanted to clarify not contradict. Presidential Election no. Primary voting yes. However its rediculous they can not vote in the General Election. 

[PartySick 172,482]

Yeah, I'm not surprised. I hope statehood is in PR's future. They're part of the U.S., they need full state's rights.

[bubbletea 364]

always had that kind of question.. is Puerto Rico considered an overseas territory like Guadalupe, Martinica or St Bartolomeu to France or St. Marteen to the Netherlands?

[Oriane 22,749]

Well I didn't know either, but I'm not American, is that bad ?

[TimisaMonster 31,073]

It's confusing cuz it's not a state...its a territory so Therfore most wouldn't know.