It’s well-known that many Americans don’t know which party controls the houses of Congress, can’t name the vice president, and think that Iron Man is on the Supreme Court. Young Americans are particularly known for their lack of expertise (and general apathy, as only 21 percent of them voted in the midterms).
One thing young Americans are usually good, though, at is knowing stuff about celebrities, and at this point, Hillary Clinton qualifies as a celebrity. (Which is one reason why she’s the 2016 frontrunner. “ME KNOW NAME, ME VOTE NAME” is perhaps the most oft-used American voting technique.) But, it turns out, a recent Pew study revealed that many American citizens—especially young ones—do not know a fairly basic fact about Hillary: how old she is (67). Clinton’s prospective opponents in the 2016 presidential election have started making snide remarks about her relatively advanced age—but, as MSNBC points out, that might have limited effectiveness if voters who have no idea what her age is:
Young people don’t even perceive Clinton as particularly old. According to a recent Pew survey, an incredible 69% of 18-29 year olds think Clinton is either in her 50s or younger. Just 27% accurately place her age as between 60 and 69, while only 2% say she’s older than 70.
Here are the results of that Pew survey:
Courtesy of Pew
Sixteen percent of millennials think Hillary Clinton is in her 40s. Put another way, 16 percent of millenials believe that, when Hillary Clinton became first lady in 1993, she was no older than 28.
