How Many Americans Can’t Name A Single First Amendment Freedom?

A poll published on September 12 by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) sought to gauge Americans’ civic literacy with some basic questions about the American Constitution. The poll was conducted between August 9 and 13, and 1,013 American adults were polled.

Below are some of its keys findings:

45 percent could not articulate a single freedom codified by the First Amendment.

39 percent “strongly” or “somewhat favored” congressional prohibitions on “news media [reporting] on any issue of national security without first getting government approval.” 49 percent “strongly” or “somewhat opposed” such a measure.

26 percent could not name any of the three branches of the federal government; consistent with previous years’ polls of the same question: 21 percent in 2016; 22 percent in 2015; 25 percent in 2014; 24 percent in 2013; 22 percent in 2011.

26 percent could name all three branches of federal governance; down from previous years’ polls of the same question: 26 percent in 2016; 31 percent in 2015; 26 percent in 2014; 28 percent in 2013; 38 percent in 2011.

“Americans are poorly informed about basic constitutional provisions,” concludes the APPC via its findings.

Read the questions and see the poll’s methodology here.

Democrats and the broader left typically refuse reforms of the educational apparatus, increasing competition and embracing market forces. Reforms, of course, that could improve Constitutional literacy.

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