PHILADELPHIA — A sizable portion of the American public seems to show little interest in the fabric of the country’s government and history, a new survey finds.
Researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) surveyed over 1,000 American adults, finding a shocking lack of knowledge as it pertains to U.S. politics among the general populace.
Fifty-three percent of respondents believed the falsehood that illegal immigrants aren’t granted any constitutional rights, while 37 percent couldn’t even name a single right endowed by the First Amendment.
Thankfully, 48 percent of those surveyed were able to identify freedom of speech as being a right enshrined by the First Amendment, although far fewer could identify other rights accorded.
These include freedom of religion (15 percent), freedom of the press (14 percent), right of peaceful assembly (10 percent), and right to petition the government (three percent).
“Protecting the rights guaranteed by the Constitution presupposes that we know what they are. The fact that many don’t is worrisome,” says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania, in a press release. “These results emphasize the need for high-quality civics education in the schools and for press reporting that underscores the existence of constitutional protections.”
Meanwhile, only 26 percent of Americans could name all three branches of the federal government — that would be the executive, legislative, and judicial, for those playing at home.
While conservatives were more likely to be able to name all three branches than liberals or moderates, the overall proportion of the public that can name all three has fallen by 12 percent since 2011.
Perhaps most embarrassing: a full third of respondents couldn’t name a single federal branch of government, a figure that hasn’t shifted over the past half-decade.
As for the rights of illegal immigrants, a majority of conservatives (67 percent) believed that illegal aliens were not provided any legal recourse, compared to slight minorities of moderates (48 percent) and liberals (46 percent).
In reality, illegal immigrants residing in the U.S. are usually afforded a number of rights, including protection under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.
On another note, it’s somewhat surprising that a significant minority of respondents believed that one could be denied rights on the basis of their religion (e.g., if they were Muslim or atheist).
The poll’s findings have a sampling error of about 3.7 percentage points.
Unfortunately, the schools teach gender identity rather than Civics/Government classes. Something needs to change!
Proof that our educational system stinks.
I remember when the Civics class was changed to Social Studies. America started down the long slippery slope then.
LARRY, CURLY, AND MOE!
TRUMP IS MOE.
LARRY IS THE LIBERALS AND CURLY IS THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT.
THE REPUBLICANS ARE JUST BACKGROUNDNOISE.
…and 100% of these uninformed Americans can vote. God help the USA!
this is why everyone shouldnt have the right to vote
If they do not know what the three branches of government are, then they deserve a dictatorship…..sad.
When public schools stop teaching government classes and alter history classes this is what you get. Time for a “Voting for Dummies” book.
Teachers Unions, providing a quality product.
I worry that some voters think the three branches of government are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost – as long as a Democrat’s in the White House.
This is a commentary on the quality of the education or lack of by our schools today. Civics and history seem to be overlooked.
Is there any hope for the republic or are we soon doomed to be broken up into warlord states or taken over by a foreign power. Who would fight for this country at this point and for whom/what would one be fighting for? I will just take a knee while waiting for an answer.
Maybe the 1/4 of Americans aren’t really American? My guess is they might know the branches of government of various Latin American countries.
only 1/4 can name the 3 branches… much worse than you think.
Wow, my brain must have rejected my initial reading as being totally implausible. You’re right. It is worse than I thought. A large percentage of foreigners is not the only problem. Apparently American children aren’t taught to be Americans either. This can’t bode well for the future.
I went to the elementary school science fair with a neighbor and her young children who attended that school. This was science class. Not Hawaiian mythology class. The kids were taught the rainbow was a result of Pele tossing her beautiful flower lei into the sky. The flowers colors broke away and waalaa! the rainbow. Yep, science class for 3rd graders in the Aloha State
Isn’t public education run by Liberals a wonderful thing! NOT. All they learn is to vote for Demorats!!!
Quite frankly, illegal aliens should only have 3 rights while in America. The right to be given the basic needs to live, to be treated humanely while in detention, and the right to a quick deportation back home. Nothing more.
Anyhow, this article proves the point as to why we still need the E-C today. There’s simply too many ignorant and uneducated people out there who possess a weapon a national destruction. The ability to vote recklessly.
An uneducated person cannot defend liberty, but will demand absolutely everything from the government while they forfeit it. Our founding fathers knew this, as did radical communists, and that’s why they began the take-over of education in this country sixty years ago.
For more see: Common Core, “Gender Studies,” sex-ed in pre-school, trans-children, and other self-evident truths.
…while 37 percent couldn’t even name a single right endowed by the First Amendment.
There are no rights endowed by the First Amendment. The 1st Amendment prohibits certain government activities.
The reason they can’t..the liberals have removed American History from our schools. Most can’t write their own name or do math without a calculator.
This is easy…
Theres the poleece, the secret poleece and the military poleece…3 branches of government
This shows why liberals are so vehemently opposed to teaching people about the Constitution. They prefer their people to be dependent and uninformed.
If there was a basic civics test to require voting the voter rolls would be cut by 70%. You want to blame someone? Blame the leftist that set the standards and indoctrinate, excuse me, “educate”, these idiots.