The answers were meant to sort out whether people accurately understood the principally charitable focus of the foundation or whether they believed it was mainly a for-profit enterprise to enrich Mrs. Clinton and her family.

The data reveal an interesting pattern: Nearly half of registered voters say they don’t know enough about the Clinton Foundation to say what it does. The lack of knowledge was similar across party identification, with 45 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of independents and 44 percent of Republicans reporting that they hadn’t heard enough to say anything about what the foundation does.

Among people who thought they could answer a question about what the foundation does, more than half (56 percent) think that setting up speaking engagements for the Clintons is one of its activities. This answer was chosen more than any other, including the charitable activities the foundation actually is engaged in, like combating AIDS in Africa (47 percent chose this answer), providing schoolchildren with healthful food choices (29 percent), and helping girls and women through education and training (43 percent). Although some money from the Clintons’ speeches ends up at the charity (and the Clintons may speak on behalf of the charity), booking speeches is not a central activity of the Clinton Foundation.

More surprising, 39 percent of registered voters think the Clinton Foundation manages the personal finances of the Clinton family, and 40 percent also think the foundation gives money to Democratic candidates. (It does neither of these things.)

There are partisan differences in what people think the Clinton Foundation is up to. For example, more Republicans (60 percent) than Democrats (26 percents) think the foundation gives money to political candidates, and more Democrats (58 percent) than Republicans (32 percent) think the foundation is working to fight AIDS in Africa.

Most telling are the attitudes of independents — which are characteristically between the partisan beliefs. Responses from the 48 percent of independents who had some knowledge of the work the foundation does looks similar to the average responses among registered voters. Sixty percent of the independent voters offering opinions believe that part of the foundation’s work involves setting up speaking gigs for the Clintons.