May 18, 2021

Civics Education

In these polarized times we could wonder whether our nation’s motto requires a revision to “E Pluribus Duo” as it seems at times we live in two separate countries. That begs the question whether we all believe that knowing who we are as a country and how our country is supposed to work is important to all of us.

To answer this question we asked our users how important Civics Education is and how much of it should be part of the curriculum of our K-12 education standards. We gave everyone five options to pick from:

Schools should require at least a full year of civics, volunteering, a civic minded project for graduation, and make passing the citizen exam a requirement.
All schools should require a full year of civics education as a graduation criterion.
All schools should provide approximately 6 months of civics specific education.
No specific civics education requirements should exist above the current social studies requirements.
Schools should be completely free to determine how much or how little civics education they provide.

As it turns out we are remarkably unified in that we believe that civics education is important.

An overwhelming 85% majority believes that we should have at least one year of civics education in our schools. Almost half of our respondents (46%) believe that besides the 1 year of civics, kids should volunteer, complete a civics minded project and pass the citizen exam before they can graduate high school.

The headline result

full year, volunteering, project, citizen exam

46%

full year

39%

6 months

no specifics above current social studies

leave it to the schools

See the details below →

We found a small and interesting education-gap, in that those with the least formal education, are more strongly in favor of more civics education. Among those with only a high school diploma, a majority of 56% would support the largest requirements on civic education, while of those with a 4-year college degree or more, only 36% support that. Still, in all groups the support for at least 1 year of civics education is 83% or more.

The crosstabs

High school

56%

33%

Some college

47%

36%

Bachelor's

36%

47%

12%

full year, volunteering, project, citizen examfull year6 monthsno specifics above current social studiesleave it to the schools

See the details below →

Support for Civics education is a bipartisan issue. Republicans champion at least 1 year of Civics Education with 83%, just ahead of Democrats with 78%. Independents are most adamant with 94% that Civics is important. When we focus on whether further requirements, such as a civics minded project, volunteering and passing the citizenship test are needed, 1 out of every 2 Democrats and Independents are all for it, while among Republicans that support is still about 2 out of every 5.

The crosstabs

Dem

49%

29%

15%

Rep

38%

45%

Ind

50%

44%

full year, volunteering, project, citizen examfull year6 monthsno specifics above current social studiesleave it to the schools

See the details below →

All in all, the country seems united on Civics Education, which is a comforting thought. Maybe, through increased civics education, the next generations can come together to perfect our imperfect union and aspire to achieve the promise of our motto sometime in the future.

Civics Education

The Details

The full crosstab table

	808 RV	full year, volunteering, project, citizen exam	full year	6 months	no specifics above current social studies	leave it to the schools
National	±3.4% MoE	46%	39%	8%	2%	5%
Gender	Men	43%	44%	5%	2%	6%
Gender	Women	49%	32%	13%	3%	3%
Age	18-29	47%	36%	14%	0%	2%
	30-49	48%	38%	5%	3%	6%
	50-64	41%	48%	6%	2%	3%
	65+	48%	29%	10%	5%	8%
Ethnicity	White	54%	32%	3%	2%	9%
	Black	48%	38%	6%	7%	1%
	Latino	39%	44%	11%	0%	7%
Education	High school	56%	33%	4%	1%	5%
	Some college	47%	36%	9%	4%	5%
	Bachelor's	36%	47%	12%	2%	4%
Income	<50k	40%	42%	9%	5%	4%
	50k-100k	57%	27%	8%	1%	7%
	>100k	38%	48%	9%	1%	3%
Affiliation	Dem	49%	29%	15%	4%	4%
	Rep	38%	45%	6%	2%	8%
	Ind	50%	44%	3%	2%	1%
Region	Dark Red	47%	31%	14%	3%	5%
	Light Red	58%	28%	8%	0%	6%
	Swing	46%	41%	5%	4%	5%
	Light Blue	45%	43%	3%	3%	6%
	Dark Blue	38%	45%	12%	2%	3%