Study Shows Large Numbers Of College Students Have No Knowledge of U.S. Civics

A new survey shows that large numbers of college students are graduating without a basic understanding of America’s history and political system.

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) presented 35 questions to 3,026 undergraduate students to assess their grasp of basic facts about U.S. history and government.

The survey, conducted by College Pulse between May 10, 2024, and June 19, 2024, revealed:

• Roughly three-quarters of students (73 percent) do not know who the Senate president is


• 60 percent of students do not know the term lengths of members of the U.S Congress


• Only 37 percent know that John Roberts is the chief justice of the Supreme Court


• Only 23 percent of students know that the phrase, “Government of the people, by the people, for the people,” comes from the Gettysburg Address


• Only 35 percent know that Mike Johnson is the speaker of the House of Representatives


• Only 28 percent of students correctly identify the 13th Amendment as the government action that freed the slaves


• Only 32 percent know that a trial of impeachment takes place before the Senate, despite living through two recent presidential impeachment trials


• Less than a third of student know that the legislative branch has the power to declare war


• 89 percent of students know that Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos

“The dismal results of our survey show that current students and recent college graduates have little idea of the American past or its core principles and values, no guide to take them through the roiling controversies facing us today or to enable them to defend and protect the free institutions that are the glory of our nation and an inspiration to the world,” said ACTA President Michael Poliakoff in a statement lamenting the survey’s results.

“They cannot uphold what they do not comprehend,” he added. “There is so much to be proud of as we near the 250th anniversary of our independence and the birth of our democratic republic. But being the world’s oldest democracy is no guarantee for the future of our democratic republic.”

ACTA Vice President of Policy Bradley Jackson said of the survey, “Students today are sadly unprepared for participation in our democratic republic, as these results show.”

He continued:

Our form of government requires citizens who understand its nature and history. It should not be possible to get a bachelor’s degree without learning the basics of American history and government, but this is the norm on our college campuses. American colleges and universities must step up and take responsibility for this sorry state of affairs. They must lead the way toward a renewal of civic education, rather than aggravating polarization and flattening our discourse with illiberal ideology.

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