🌅 Americans Want More Civic Education

Sunrise Stat
July 01, 2026

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SOURCE

A new survey by NBC News found 80% of U.S. adults believe America’s education system puts too little emphasis on civic education (i.e., the teaching of government and democracy), including 51% who say there’s “much too little” emphasis. In an instance of rare agreement, the survey suggests the belief cuts across ideological lines, finding 87% of progressives and 84% of MAGA Republicans agree there’s too little focus on civic education.

The survey found Americans continue to express a broad distrust in institutions, with only 18% of adults saying they have confidence in the federal government and just 12% expressing confidence in Congress. Americans view national news media similarly, with just 11% of respondents expressing confidence. Interestingly, one bright spot for institutional trust was education itself, with 36% of Americans having confidence in U.S. colleges and universities and 30% having confidence in public schools. The share expressing confidence in public schools has remained relatively unchanged since 2000.

Research over the past several years has continually found Americans’ trust in institutions is down, from government to media to education to—perhaps most disappointingly—science itself. Experts say distrust in most institutions is driven by a variety of factors, none of which will be solved with a single solution. However, when it comes to Congress, the explanation may be fairly straightforward: the current legislature is one of the least effective of all time.