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Via Annie Lowrey, here’s a Pew poll measuring knowledge of current events:

I guess you can try to draw some conclusions from the fact that Republicans are more likely to know that Greece got a bailout from the EU while Democrats are more likely to know who the prime minister of Great Britain is. But I’m not sure what. What’s more interesting, I think is that independents do better than partisans of either stripe on virtually every question. The differences aren’t huge, but they’re quite clear.

What makes this odd is that independents are traditionally stereotyped as being less interested in politics and more apathetic than partisans. And maybe they are. But for a bunch of disengaged couch potatoes, they sure seem to know a fair amount about current affairs.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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