LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: Just how much do American's know about the holiday they're celebrating today? Well, Gallup surveyors came up with an Independence Day pop quiz, if you will. Here's Frank Newport.</s>FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL: Indeed, we can find how knowledgeable Americans are about why we're celebrating the Fourth of July today. All in all, Americans did pretty well on our little knowledge test. The first question we asked people this past weekend is "Why do we celebrate the Fourth of July in America?" Well, all in all, we think over 8 out of 10 Americans got it right. Sixty-one percent said the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but another 24 percent said it's the birthday of the nation, and we counted that as a correct response. Add those two together and you've got about 85 percent, yes. That leaves about 15 percent who, unfortunately, told us, We don't know why we celebrate the Fourth of July. Second knowledge question was "Back there when the Declaration of Independence was signed, what country was the United States breaking away from?" Well, some Americans need a history lesson. About three- quarters were able to correctly say England, another 5 percent guessed France, and some other countries like that, and again, 19 percent said they didn't know -- didn't do quite as well on this. "If the signer to the Declaration were able to look at what we've done with this country today, would they be pleased or not?" Fifty- four percent say yes. Forty-two percent say disappointed. That's actually a more positive response than we got for this question a couple of July Fourths ago. There are some interesting differences here. Democrats are the most likely to think that the founding fathers would be pleased with what's happened to their country -- see that: 58 percent say they would be. Republicans are a little more dour this July Fourth; a little under half say they think the signers to the Declaration would be pleased. All and all, we give Americans an A- on their knowledge about what it is and why we are celebrating the Fourth of July. I'm Frank Newport.
Gallup Poll: 61 Percent of Americans Know Reason for Fourth of July Holiday