A new national poll reveals a striking paradox in public sentiment ahead of America's 250th anniversary: a disconnect between Americans' strong patriotic pride and their lack of civic knowledge.
According to a survey from the libertarian Cato Institute think tank of more than 2,000 U.S. adults conducted in late June, 86% of respondents said they are grateful to be American and 70% believe the nation's founding principles remain relevant.
However, nearly half of Americans (46%) don't know that America's 250th anniversary commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
This civic ignorance extends to basic governance: Nearly 60% do not know the main purpose of the U.S. Constitution is to limit government power, and do not know why the colonies declared independence from Great Britain.
Furthermore, the report highlights deep anxieties about the future of American liberty.
The majority of those surveyed believe the country has strayed from its founding principles, and more than half fear the U.S. could cease to be a free country within the next 50 years, citing corruption and the abuse of power as primary threats. The majority of both Republicans and Democrats share these fears.
The concerns are especially pronounced among Gen Z respondents, who exhibited both the lowest levels of civic knowledge and the least favorable views of the nation's founders. The majority of Gen Z failed to cite the adoption of the Declaration of Independence as the source of the 250th anniversary.
"The lack of civic knowledge is a great disaster," said Coe Professor of History and American Studies and Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Stanford University Jack Rakove. "Any democratic system of government to succeed requires having an informed electorate."
The Pulitzer Prize-winning authority on the drafting of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence blamed the problem on the fragmented media landscape and schools prioritizing STEM subjects over civics and history.
"Our educational system is highly decentralized. So the idea that you could have one clean, neat, sweeping educational reform that will cope with the problem is hard," Rakove said. "And of course, and we do live in this disaggregated information environment where people pick the sources they like. If you assume that a Democratic society depends upon well-rounded deliberation of being exposed to the views of other people, the information environment itself is not conducive to the underlying foundation of Democratic debate."
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