A striking consensus has emerged in American politics: voters across the ideological spectrum believe the country is failing to teach citizens how their government functions. An NBC News poll conducted May 29 through June 7 found that 80% of adults nationwide think the United States devotes too little emphasis to civic education, with more than half calling the shortfall severe.
The finding cuts across traditional political divides. Eighty-seven percent of progressives and 84% of MAGA Republicans agreed the nation underinvests in teaching government and democracy. Generational divisions that appear elsewhere in the survey collapsed here, with Americans of all age groups uniting behind the assessment that civic education is lacking.
The 3,000-person survey, sponsored by NBC News and More Perfect, a nonpartisan nonprofit advancing democracy, reveals Americans care most about this issue when they themselves pay close attention to public affairs. Among highly engaged citizens who regularly follow politics, 84% said civic education receives too little focus, compared to 69% of those who do not closely follow current events.
The civic education gap emerges against a backdrop of institutional distrust. Just 12% of Americans expressed confidence in Congress, and only 18% said they trust the federal government broadly. Local government fared somewhat better at 27%, yet the national news media scored even lower at 11%. Colleges and universities proved the institutional standout, with 34% of Americans expressing confidence, though public schools lagged at 30%, a figure largely unchanged since 2000.
That lack of confidence in basic institutions coincides with fundamental questions about how American democracy should operate. The poll asked respondents whether the country needs strong executive power to solve problems without Congressional or Supreme Court input, or whether such concentration of authority is inherently dangerous.
Results showed a perfect split: 48% said strong executive leadership is necessary, while 48% said it poses a danger to the system. The balance recalls findings from a 1976 Gallup bicentennial poll, which showed 49% favoring strong leadership against 44% viewing it as dangerous. Throughout subsequent decades, surveys consistently found roughly 60% of Americans backing strong executive power.
This latest reading marks a meaningful shift. Compared to the 1976 baseline, Americans have grown 4 percentage points more likely to view concentrated executive authority as dangerous. Women, young people, and college graduates showed greater skepticism of strong leadership, while men, seniors, and those with high school education or less were more receptive to it.
A modest source of optimism appears in how Americans view one another's values. A 54% majority said most Americans share core values but disagree on politics and issues, compared to 44% who believe Americans have fundamentally different values altogether. Across every demographic group and partisan affiliation, respondents cited family and freedom as their most important personal values.
Half of Americans believe the Constitution-based form of government remains sound for future challenges, up 4 points from a comparable Roper survey in 1976. Yet 18% now say changing times have rendered the system obsolete and a new form of government will eventually become necessary, also up 4 points from five decades ago.
The survey of 3,000 adults used a mix of telephone interviews and online surveys conducted via text message, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Americans agree on the problem but not the solution, and the fact that 80% feel democracy lessons are missing suggests a hunger for common ground that institutions aren't providing."
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