Most college students have little idea how government works, new survey shows

Just months before many college students will take part in their first Election Day, a survey has found a concerning amount of them don’t actually know much about the background of what they’re voting on.

The survey, published Wednesday by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, found undergraduate students lack basic civil literacy, with few knowing important facts about America’s history or current government procedures.

For example, only 31% of the more than 3,000 students surveyed knew James Madison was a Founding Father of the Constitution, and 60% couldn’t identify term lengths for members of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives. Only 27% knew Vice President Kamala Harris is the president of the U.S. Senate, 35% knew the House Speaker is Mike Johnson and one-third incorrectly thought the Constitution required the Supreme Court to have nine judges, though it doesn’t stipulate a number at all.

The results raise major concerns and heed a growing fear that young adults today are unprepared to take part in the country’s democracy.

Nicholas Giordano, a political science professor, told Scripps News his years of teaching have shown it’s not surprising, as most of his students come to college without ever taking a government class or reading the U.S. Constitution.

And while Giordano said it stems from a “failed education system” in grade school, Steve McGuire, a fellow with ACTA, said the lack of civic education continues through college, too.

Data released by the National Center for Education Statistics last year found only 22% of students performed at a proficient level on a civics test, a first-ever decline in the assessment.

McGuire says the primary fix is changing educational practices.

He pointed to ACTA’s initiative “What Will They Learn?” which evaluates whether colleges and universities are teaching the basics and grades them. It found less than 20% of the institutions ACTA analyzed required students to take a course in U.S. history or government before graduation.

“So under those circumstances, again, it’s not surprising that a lot of college students just don’t know these basic things,” McGuire said.

This post appeared on Scripps News on July 17, 2024.