Levels of political knowledge of mildly mentally retarded adults.

The levels of political knowledge of institutionalized and noninstitutionalized retarded adults were compared with fifth- and eight-grade children and nonretarded CA-matched low SES adults. On all four knowledge indices, the retarded adults' performance closely resembled that of nonretarded fifth-grade children. The retarded subjects performed better on indices that dealt with particular leaders and state and local government information than on the more complex regime and national government indices. Results indicated that in both retarded group subjects had acquired minimal political knowledge, even though none had been exposed to any voter education.