I... I notice that I am confused. How could such a large percentage of people get these easy questions wrong? Are they interpreting it as a question of signalling without even reaching the point of evaluating it as an ontological statement?

Yeah. It's hard for literal types like myself to come to grips with the idea, but yes, there are many different ways to respond to a question besides answering with the literal truth. You could answer for approval of others. Self approval. For signalling. For group inclusion. To fight the great fight against evil. To fight the great fight against bad ideas. If you really pay attention, I think you'll often find that people are largely indifferent to identifying or professing literal truth. That's a God that just doesn't speak to them.