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.
That is because teaching kids about our country and it’s three forms of government might considered a microaggression to those who climbed over a fence illegally and view this country as their own.
Not all Americans are that dumb, far more than 1/3, for example, know the capital of Africa.
From history to civics to social studies to snowflake safe spaces
Well, this is what happens when around a third of the people walking around in America are not Americans. I wouldn’t do well on a test of Mexican laws if they stopped me on the street there.
(Wait, do they have laws in Mexico?)
Also, nice job on avoiding telling us exactly what the difference was between liberals and conservatives on the question of being able to name the three branches of government. My guess is that the gap is substantial and revealing and that’s why they won’t tell us what it is.
Wrong answers given by liberals to the question of what the three branches of government are:
-Hillary
-unicorns and rainbows
-like, legalize it, man….
-(checks iPhone) “Wait, what was the question?”
-NPR
-MSNBC
-“There are three?”
Sheep for the slaughter.
It’s just a matter of time.
There should be some requirement of having a basic understanding of our government in order to vote. It’s a crying shame that many of those who exercise their right to vote are to frucking ignorant to even know the three branches of our government. Shameful. I’d bet another large number of voters don’t even know the capitol of the state in which they vote, the states senators, or their district congressman, etc. And these are the dumb mo-fos voting to fill the position of the most powerful position on the world. It’s more difficult to get a hunting license to go into the woods and kill animals than to register to vote. It’s really frucked up and getting worse!!!!
The mentally challenged living in institutions are allowed to vote.
“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.”
Yes, most Americans don’t know how illegal aliens sued (Plyer v Doe) to force Americans to educate their illegal alien children, and how our Judical branch betrayed us by siding with the illegals. After that 1982 ruling, every illegal alien who brought their children here did so to steal from the American people.
Depending on the location, it costs eight thousand to 20 thousand dollars per year to educate a child. So, for a K-12 education, the illegal alien parents of each “DREAMer” screwed the American taxpayers out of 100 thousand to over 200 thousand dollars. We have Americans in prison for stealing far less. But, instead of punishment, our government will reward the parents by granting legalization to their illegal alien children, “We’ve spent all this money to educate them, we can’t deport them now.”
It won’t, of course, stop with the “DREAMers”. “We can’t separate families”, so the illegal alien parents will be allowed to stay, the grandparents will be brought in, along with nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles and all the people they’ve ever had intercourse with. This will all be the fault of our Judical branch forcing Americans to educate illegal alien children.
If the children of Bernie Madoff couldn’t keep what he stole, I don’t think the “DREAMers” should be allowed to keep what their parents stole. If the children of apprehended bank robbers can’t keep what their parent stole, then illegal alien children shouldn’t be allowed to keep what their illegal alien parents stole. They should return to their home countries and use their stolen education to make those countries better.
This is the major problem with diversity as practiced in these times…people coming to the U.S. as adults, especially, have no life-long framework for the traditions, literature, language, and culture of the country. This is not a moral failing, it is just reality—the same thing could be said for many Americans were they to emigrate to a foreign country without study and preparation. When you “hit the ground” in a whole other sphere you have no inculcated interest in the history of that new country before the day you got there, and with some exceptions you will not study the history and culture of the new country. And so it goes. And since our nation doesn’t stress the need for such things they are not incorporated into the newcomers’ educational system—although mandatory classes in such would help, but we are loathe to force people to indulge in such.
well if you go up and ask muslims and mexican immigrants facts about the usa this is the result you get.
And less than 1/2 pay income tax and more than a 1/4 are illegal aliens.
Numbers are fun!
No wonder the country is such a mess. Disgraceful. But what do you expect when the emphasis is on replacing multi-generational Americans with 3rd world immigrants.
The NEA has finally achieved its goals.
Wow! That is just sad.
When school teachers actually taught a ridged class, no spending time indoctrination of children to their political beliefs, kids learned. Now school is where the leftist Nazi teach kids, like what is going on in Berkley, Ca, , that they can deny people freedom of speech by threat of violence. USCB is just one example. Why teach government to kids when the teachers just use the schools as a platform for the leftist Nazi propaganda ?
Kids graduate with no knowledge, even college graduates cannot answer these questions, because teachers spread thier version a leftist Nazi propaganda machine
This is what happens when you have liberals in charge of the educational system. Tenure should be abolished, and teachers FIRED for poor results!
We have a nation of under educated idiots. The billions$ spent on education is a waste of money. How stupid.
Teachers need to lose their retirement funds over this. What the h*ll did we pay them for? Pay the kids to learn and pass the tests. No more foolin’ around.
2026 The USA will be a dictatorship………the electorate is TOO STOOPID to stop this. Everything has and end
Is it any wonder? Since we became a flop house for the third world.