I understand that a survey in Great Britain showed that 58% of the population belives that Sherlock Holmes was a real person and 23% thought that Winston Churchill was made up.   

Now, does that ONE survey make me believe that Great Britian is made up of idiots? Of course not. What it means is that an unusually high percentage of people WHO PARTICIPATED in the survey made a huge mistake. I would hope that people do not form an opinion of a nation and its population based on that.

Likewise, the results of the 2004 election are not reflecting the entire nation. 60% of eligable voters cast a vote and Bush beat Kerry by only 2 million votes - 2% more than what Kerry got.   Does that say that the entire nation was asleep at the wheel? Hardly.

You can't generalize and look at things in black and white.