By Clint Olivier

FRESNO - The website thedailybeast.com has people in Fresno talking.

Fresno and its surrounding area came in dead last in their survey "America's Smartest Cities."

And Valley folks are not happy.

"These people are here living their lives and doing the very best they can. They shouldn't be put down like this," Carol Williams said.

We found Williams at a book store, which is actually a part of how the daily beast ranked cities.

The website evaluated places based on:

How many residents had Bachelor's Degrees.

How many universities in a city.

How many people vote.

And Non-fiction book sales, which brings us back to Carol Williams.

"And I think the criteria they used to make quote dumb people is absolutely ridiculous," she said.

"Some people are pretty lazy, they don't care about the politics," Robert said.

Lopez was getting voters to sign petitions, he says for the most part people in town are engaged.

And he just picked up a few more signatures.

"I asked are you guys registered to vote, and they said, heck yeah we are," Lopez said.

And Mayor Ashley Swearengin weighed in, saying in a statement:

"This is a flawed study that uses indicators that don't accurately measure the intelligence and capability of the people in our city.  Nevertheless, Fresno must always stay focused on improving the community's educational attainment. It's the single biggest determinant of any city's success."

So how did everyone else stack up?

Raleigh-Durham is the smartest.

San Francisco was #2.

Fresno also got beat by L.A. 27, San Diego, 20 and Sacramento #35.

That last one really has former City Councilman Jerry Duncan scratching his head when he thinks of the state lawmakers who inhabit the city.

"Beause there's not a lot of smart people in Sacramento, obviously, so it's not something people should take seriously," Duncan said.