New poll says most Canadians would fail a citizenship test

A new poll suggests that the large majority of Canadians would fail a citizenship test.

Forum Research asked over 1,600 voters 10 questions from the study guide for the Canadian citizenship test and found that only 12 percent of respondents would got enough correct answers to pass the test. A score of 75 percent must be achieved to pass.

On average, people who responded to the poll got about five out of 10 questions correct. Meanwhile, 20 percent of respondents got only two or fewer questions correct.

The poll found that only one fifth of Canadians were able to correctly identify the Queen as Canada’s Head of State. Fewer than half were able to correctly answer the Aboriginal, French, and British as the founding people of Canada.

“Many Canadians wouldn’t pass the Canadian citizenship test. Canadians’ general knowledge of what’s in the study guide would only get them about halfway to a passing grade,” Forum Research President Lorne Bozinoff said in a press release accompanying the poll.

Those most likely to fail the test include Quebec residents, with 95 percent of respondents failing, and citizens 65 years of age or older at 94 percent.