Annenberg survey finds one-third of Americans can’t name the three branches of government

The Annenberg Public Policy Center found that many United States adults lack basic civic knowledge.

A Sept. 15 study, part of an annual Annenberg Civics Knowledge Survey, revealed that over one-third of adults cannot name the three branches of government, among other gaps. The center has conducted the survey annually since 2006.

“This year’s survey results reaffirm the importance of strengthening civic education in America’s schools,” Lance Holbert, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics, wrote in a statement. “STEM has been the primary focus of American education since Sputnik, but increased attention needs to be given to teaching kids about their government and the nation’s core documents.”

The survey found that 35% of adults could not name the three branches of government — a 5% increase from the previous year. According to Holbert, this shift can be attributed to a “variety of factors.”

“What we seek to identify are trends across multiple years, but we can say in the immediate short term is that the shift from 2025 to 2026 does not signal core civics knowledge levels going in the right direction,” he explained.

While 75% of adults could identify “freedom of speech” as a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, less than half could identify any others. Only 9% could correctly name all five First Amendment protections, while roughly a quarter could not name any of them.

25% of respondents wrongly indicated that the right to bear arms, which is outlined in the Second Amendment, is part of the First. 

“You have to know your rights in order to be able to exercise those rights,” Holbert argued.

The survey also found that just over half of Americans understand that the Constitution at least partially protects the rights of undocumented individuals.

“This finding indicates we have more work to do to educate the American public on this important issue,” Holbert wrote. “It also provides some potential insights concerning why different members of the U.S. adult population will have different interpretations of events like the recent SCOTUS decision concerning birthright citizenship.”

Holbert clarified that the results “should not be used to generalize to Penn or any other campus population” but could be “generalized to the U.S. adult population.”

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