{"id":7842,"date":"2023-11-07T11:54:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T16:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/what-americans-know-about-their-government\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:59:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:59:29","slug":"what-americans-know-about-their-government","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2023\/11\/07\/what-americans-know-about-their-government\/","title":{"rendered":"What Americans know about their government"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-callout has-beige-background-color has-ui-beige-very-light-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How much do you know about the U.S. government? <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/quiz\/what-do-you-know-about-the-u-s-government\/\">Take the Pew Research Center civics quiz<\/a> and find out how much you know compared with the American public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Americans\u2019 knowledge of their government varies widely by topic. Majorities are aware of the length of Supreme Court appointments, how states\u2019 representation in the House of Representatives is determined, which parties control the House and Senate, and one of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fewer Americans correctly answer questions about the filibuster, the length of a Senate term and how a presidential election is decided in the event of a tie in the Electoral College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Before reading further, take our <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/quiz\/what-do-you-know-about-the-u-s-government\/\">U.S. civic and political knowledge quiz<\/a>. For full question wording and correct answers, refer to the <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_topline.pdf\">survey topline<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"border-width:1px;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);--block-gap: inherit\" class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible has-background has-ui-beige-very-light-background-color has-border-color has-ui-beige-dark-border-color\" id=\"how-we-did-this\" data-wp-interactive=\"{&quot;namespace&quot;:&quot;prc-block\\\/collapsible&quot;}\" data-wp-context=\"{&quot;collapsibleId&quot;:&quot;how-we-did-this&quot;,&quot;isOpen&quot;:false}\" data-wp-class--is-open=\"context.isOpen\" data-wp-init--scroll-into-view=\"callbacks.onInitScrollIntoView\"><div class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible__title\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.onClick\"><div>How we did this<\/div><button class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible__icon\"><span data-wp-bind--hidden=\"context.isOpen\"><i class=\"icon icon-library__light icon__circle-plus\"><svg style=\"width: 1em; height: 1em;\"><use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/plugins\/prc-icon-library\/build\/icons\/sprites\/light.svg#circle-plus\"><\/use><\/svg><\/i><\/span><span data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!context.isOpen\" hidden><i class=\"icon icon-library__light icon__circle-minus\"><svg style=\"width: 1em; height: 1em;\"><use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/plugins\/prc-icon-library\/build\/icons\/sprites\/light.svg#circle-minus\"><\/use><\/svg><\/i><\/span><\/button><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible__content\">\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to understand what Americans know about their government. For this analysis, we surveyed 5,115 adults from June 5 to 11, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Everyone who took part in the survey is a member of the Center\u2019s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/methods\/u-s-survey-research\/american-trends-panel\/\">ATP\u2019s methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are the <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_topline.pdf\">questions used for this analysis<\/a>, along with responses, and its <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2023\/09\/19\/views-of-politics-methodology\/\">methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-640-wide is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2023\/11\/07\/what-americans-know-about-their-government\/sr_23-11-07_civic-knowledge_1-png\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9315\"><img data-dominant-color=\"ede8d9\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_1.png?resize=480,578 480w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_1.png?resize=782,942 782w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_1.png?resize=840,1012 840w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" height=\"771\" width=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_1.png?w=640\" alt=\"A bar chart showing that Americans\u2019 civic and political knowledge varies widely depending on the topic.\" class=\"wp-image-9315 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #ede8d9; width:420px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three-quarters of Americans are familiar with the length of a Supreme Court appointment. This question got the highest share of correct answers on our quiz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A clear majority (68%) also knows how the number of representatives each state gets in the House is determined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The public also generally knows who\u2019s in control in Congress: 66% correctly identify which party has a majority in the House and 63% know which controls the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A smaller majority (57%) correctly identifies one of the rights the First Amendment guarantees, while half correctly answer what part of the government requires a 60% majority vote to end a filibuster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the other hand, fewer than half of Americans know the length of a full term of office for a U.S. senator (44%) or who chooses the president if there is a tie in the Electoral College (40%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"partisanship-and-civic-knowledge\">Partisanship and civic knowledge<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-640-wide is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2023\/11\/07\/what-americans-know-about-their-government\/sr_23-11-07_civic-knowledge_2-png\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9318\"><img data-dominant-color=\"ececec\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"952\"  sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_2.png?resize=480,737 480w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_2.png?resize=620,952 620w\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_2.png?w=620\" alt=\"A dot plot showing that virtually no partisan differences emerge in civic and political knowledge.\" class=\"wp-image-9318 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #ececec; width:310px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Republicans and Democrats perform about equally well on these questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Equal shares of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and Democrats and Democratic leaners correctly answer three questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Which party is in control of the Senate<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Which part of the government requires a 60% majority to end a filibuster<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among all eight items in the quiz, there is no greater than a 3 percentage point difference in the shares of Republicans and Democrats who answer correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"age-and-civic-knowledge\">Age and civic knowledge<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-640-wide is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2023\/11\/07\/what-americans-know-about-their-government\/sr_23-11-07_civic-knowledge_3-png\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9323\"><img data-dominant-color=\"ede9de\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"1531\"  sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_3.png?resize=480,1185 480w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_3.png?resize=620,1531 620w\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_3.png?w=620\" alt=\"A dot plot showing that older adults tend to know more about U.S. civics, politics than younger adult.\" class=\"wp-image-9323 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #ede9de; width:310px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Older Americans are generally more likely than younger adults to answer the quiz questions correctly. For instance, 88% of adults ages 65 and older know the length of a Supreme Court appointment, compared with 62% of those ages 18 to 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, older adults are somewhat <em>less<\/em> likely than younger adults to correctly answer questions about First Amendment rights and the tiebreaker for the Electoral College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Note: Here are the <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/SR_23.11.07_civic-knowledge_topline.pdf\">questions used for this analysis<\/a>, along with responses, and its <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2023\/09\/19\/views-of-politics-methodology\/\">methodology<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three-quarters of Americans are familiar with the length of a Supreme Court 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