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Comment by theorique | Hacker News Reader

Most people (and voters) don't even know how many Senators their state has

Trick question. Every state has the same number of Senators - 2.

If you changed the question to "How many people represent you in Washington, D.C.?" the answer becomes even simpler. Most people could then safely answer "zero," without a second thought.

That doesn't preclude someone from not knowing that there are two.

I think that the question here is about "most people", not "someone."

Sure. Most people may not know that it's two.

I guess I should have specified that I was drilling down on the question of "their state" - it doesn't matter whether it's their state or any other, it's always the same.

(In contrast to congressmen, where the number changes with population.)

(And yes, I can believe, unfortunately, that not every citizen knows this.)

that's not a trick question at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Senator

did we all forget that every state has a Senate as well?

Not Nebraska.

Right, you can't say every State has a Senate. Every State has a legislative branch of government whose setup varies by State Constitution. For example, Nebraska has a unicameral legislature while New York and California have a Senate and Assembly while Texas has a Senate and House of Representatives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Senator

> A state senator is a member of a state's Senate, the upper house in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a legislator in Nebraska's one house State Legislature.

Touché. :)

Cool. Didn't know that was universal terminology.

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