Civics Survey: 1 In 5 Americans Can’t Name Single Branch Of U.S. Government
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Civics Survey: 1 In 5 Americans Can’t Name Single Branch Of U.S. Government
PHILADELPHIA — Americans appear to be improving in their basic knowledge of the federal government, an annual survey shows. Yet despite the progress, one in five adults still can’t name even one of the three branches of government.
The annual Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey, a study conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, found good news and bad news when it comes to Americans’ knowledge of how their government functions.
Among the good news: According to the survey, which conducted interviews with 1,104 adults, the American public knows more now about the Constitution and the concept of the separation of powers than in the previous five years. The survey found more adults responding correctly to questions about constitutional rights and other civics concepts.
Data from the Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey (2019)The bad news is that only about 39% of adults can correctly name the three branches of United States government (executive, legislative, and judicial, in case you were wondering). While this is the highest mark in the last five years, it still leaves room for improvement. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed — about 22% — couldn’t name a single governmental branch. Still, that’s markedly better than the previous two years when a third of respondents were stumped on the same question.
Meanwhile, 25% of respondents were able to name one branch, and 14% remembered only two.
The survey suggested a link between high school civics or government classes and civics knowledge. Those surveyed who said they took high school civics were more likely to know the answers to six different “knowledge” questions, including naming the branches of government. Those who said they are high consumers of print, television, or online news were also more likely to answer civics questions correctly.
“While this marks an improvement, the overall results remain dismal,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, statement. “A quarter of U.S. adults can name only one of the three branches of government and more than a fifth can’t name any. The resilience of our system of government is best protected by an informed citizenry. And civics education and attention to news increase that likelihood.”
Other questions on the survey also resulted in improved scores. About six in ten participants (59%) correctly marked that a 5-4 ruling on a case by the U.S. Supreme Court meant that the decision was the law and must be followed, the highest score for that questions among the seven times it’s been asked since 2007. About six in ten also knew that should the Supreme Court and president disagree on whether an action by the president was constitutional, the burden falls on the court to make the final call.
A staggering 83% also knew it was accurate to say that the Supreme Court has held that a citizen has a constitutional right to own a handgun .
And when asked whether illegal immigrants had any rights under the Constitution, 55% correctly noted that they indeed had some rights. On the flip side, 40% answered incorrectly — but researchers note the scores were flipped from 2017, when most people got it wrong.
When it came to control of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, 55% correctly answered that Democrats have majority in the House, while 61% knew Republicans control the senate. A quarter of respondents did not know or were unsure for both questions.
The survey will be released for Constitution Day, September 17, by the Annenberg Public Policy Center in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania.
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Less than half of Americans (39%) can name all three branches of the U.S. government.
Thats pitiful.
Another sad truth. Almost half the country is functionally ignorant of the current government. How can we have a knowledgeable election?
Yes that's why groups like Move On.org are doing us no favors trying to register as many people as possible to vote. As far as I'm concerned the fewer that vote the better because as Hamilton said the masses are asses.
Uhhh Department of Progressive Liberal Affairs? Just kidding. I know the Department of Defense. I worked for them for 20 years.
i could only name the Judicial, off the top of my head,
as i had no Civics besides Hondas.
i did realize the other two consisted of the President, and
Congress/Senate, but Executive and Legislative didn't come to mind, as i did not have normal High School classes.
As i've stated, i'm self uneducated, but i have some thinking skills, though,most are Critical
but i n joy that condition.
our education systems, R Failing
thus Y, ignorance continues to rule sad reflection of us
I believe that.
Part of the reason we have incompetent, narcissistic politicians screwing things up in the long-erm for short-term personal/party gains is because our electorate is too apathetic and uninformed. We continue to elect and reelect these bozos. Too many people vote on name recognition without clue one of what the politician has done and/or likely will do. Politicians know that they can get away with all sorts of crap because a) the public often forgets, b) the public is easily distracted and c) the public easily is diffused by political spin.
I don't disagree with you, but even a dog knows to come in out of the rain. I don't think an advanced understanding of our system of government is required, but some common sense and reasonable cynicism might prove more useful on the whole. Take the debate on ARs. Pray tell what impact would there be if there was an all out ban on "black" guns? I offer there would not be any appreciable impact. Annual homicides attributable to all rifles continue to be the lowest of all categories, including hands and feet, and the "assault rifle", despite the media's constant shouting, is still not the weapon of choice in public mass shootings, nor does it account for as many deaths in public mass shootings as handguns. That's even if you attribute all deaths in public shootings to rifles, in every instance the perp carried both rifles and handguns. A more detailed account is needed, but the overall number of public mass shooting deaths attributable to all rifles is somewhere between 49% and 20%. Then you get into the issue of which shootings were carried out with a so called assault rifle. While, 50% of the deaths were absolutely other than by rifle.
Granted, Vegas doesn't occur with handguns only. Regardless, the hype is about black guns, red flag laws, common sense legislation, etc. Common sense dictates that the hype is a bunch of BS. According to the crime stats, a total ban on ARs, AKs, etc, may theoretically prevent under 300 homicides a year. I'm betting its a pie in the sky to those believing its not about the second amendment but about "common sense" legislation.
TiG, didn't mean to dump this, got carried away.
Dude. 1/4 of Americans believe in astrology.
Some of us are not the brightest bulbs in the box.
It's the state and local schools fault. My kids had civics for 4 semesters and were members of the debate team. This was what our district mandates and I am not sure why all schools don't.
Not sure how our school does it now but i know we ( kids included) had at least one class of Civics and one of Government. As i recall Civic was Middle School and Government was High school.
The bare minimum IMO.
We were taught about elections in elementary school. We even had a grade wide mock presidential election. (Ford won in our class)
We only ever did one and that was in 6th grade. Nixon won
Wow, that is really a sad state of affairs if accurate.
I really hope it is not.
The glorification of ignorance is what has happened, rather than respect for truth, knowledge and intelligence. We need to stop glorifying opinions over reality, facts, and truth. Anyone and everyone has an opinion, not everyone has the truth and facts to back it up and that is where the media has totally failed us.
The three branches of Trump's government:
That's okay.
Obama's branch of government was more crooked than Lombard Street in San Fran.
No good lumber in that branch ......
HARDLY! exactly zero ranking Obama campaign or administration officials have ever been indicted for malfeasance in office. None Zero Nada Zip! So put that in your pipe and smoke it...
Hilarious .... whats the latest count of his Admin that plead the fifth?
His Admin was squeaky clean only to useful idiots.
Smoke em if ya got em .....