A new national poll has found that 80% of American adults believe the country places too little emphasis on civic education, marking a rare consensus across age, party, and geographic lines. The survey, conducted by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies for NBC News and sponsored by More Perfect and the Daniels Fund, polled 3,000 adults nationwide from May 29 to June 7. More than half of respondents said the country places “much too little” emphasis on civic education, defined as teaching how government and democracy work, while another 29% said “somewhat too little.” Just 13% said the current level is about right, and almost no one said the country teaches too much.
The findings come as the United States prepares to mark 250 years of independence, with confidence in institutions at new lows. The poll also revealed that more than half of Americans believe people share the same core values but disagree on policy, and that majorities see more uniting than dividing Americans across lines of gender, race, ethnicity, and immigration status. Additionally, 78% of all adults said the “American Dream” is harder to achieve than it was a generation ago.
“Eight out of ten Americans telling us we need more civic education is a wake-up call to educators and policymakers,” said John Bridgeland, co-founder of More Perfect, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to advancing democracy. “People want to understand how their government works, the role of civil society, and how they can engage in helping to improve our union. The good news is that a growing movement is already answering that call, from Presidential Centers to classrooms to the National Civics Bee.”
“This research confirms what we hear every day in communities across Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming: people are hungry for the tools to participate in their democracy, not just watch from the sidelines,” said Hanna Skandera Grady, President and CEO of the Daniels Fund, a foundation dedicated to positively impacting American life. “As America approaches its 250th anniversary, investing in civic knowledge and engagement among our nation's rising generation is more important than ever, and the answers are often already taking shape, emerging from local communities across the country.”
The poll's findings come as a wide range of civic education efforts are already underway nationwide. The National Civics Bee, of which the Daniels Fund is the founding sponsor, has expanded to all 50 states and draws students into civic competition outside the classroom. iCivics reaches roughly 145,000 teachers and 9 million students each year, with a new Rule of Law unit for high schoolers. The National Constitution Center's Civics Quest offers families a play-based way to explore American history together. Additionally, 44 Presidential Centers have come together for the first time around civic education and democratic renewal, a notable moment of cross-ideological alignment. More Perfect's In Pursuit initiative has generated nearly a million views with essays and insights about every U.S. president and first lady, ahead of an hour-long PBS documentary set for October 2026.
The implications of this announcement are significant: the widespread demand for more civic education highlights a critical gap in preparing citizens for informed participation in democracy. As the nation approaches its semiquincentennial, the poll underscores the urgency of investing in civic knowledge and engagement, particularly among younger generations who express lower levels of national pride and confidence in the Constitution. The existing initiatives, from the National Civics Bee to iCivics, demonstrate that solutions are already emerging, but the poll suggests that far more support and resources are needed to meet public expectations and strengthen democratic institutions.
