Measuring Political Knowledge in Spain: Problems and Consequences for the Gender Gap in Knowledge

Abstract

How much do Spanish citizens know about politics? Is political
knowledge unequally distributed among the Spanish population? While
levels of political knowledge in Spain are low, there are also important
socioeconomic and gender differences in levels of knowledge.
Knowledge is higher among those with higher levels of education,
greater socioeconomic and cognitive resources and, in particular,
among men. These differences are explained as a function of citizens’
resources, capacities, and motivation. However this study also shows
that part of the gender gap in political knowledge in Spain is due to the
way in which surveys measure that knowledge, which reveals important
problems of validity. The results suggest the importance of testing new
ways of asking survey questions about citizens’ political knowledge, as
studies in other countries have shown.