In today’s political climate, it is becoming more and more apparent that we no longer value the Constitution of the United States or the Bill of Rights. In fact, a disturbing percentage of Americans don’t even know what the Bill of Rights is, according to recent studies.
In 2017, the Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey asked 1,013 American adults (aged 18 or older) sampled from all 50 states, if they could name any of the specific rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution. Here are the results:
- 37 percent could not name or did not know any of the First Amendment rights
- 48 percent named “freedom of speech”
- 15 percent named “freedom of religion”
- 14 percent named “freedom of the press”
- 10 percent named the “right of assembly/right of the people to peaceably assemble”
- 3 percent named the “right to petition the government for a redress of grievances”
- 8 percent gave incorrect answers
The survey also asked “Do you happen to know any of the three branches of government?”
- 33 percent could not name any
- 27 percent named one branch
- 13 percent named two branches
- 26 percent named all three branches (In 2011, 38 percent named all three branches)
Recently on Fox News, Sen. Ben Sasse said, “41 percent of Americans under age 35 told pollsters that they think the First Amendment is dangerous.” He added that polls show that an increasing number of people on the left are disinterested in religious liberty while on the right people are disinterested in freedom of the press. “We haven’t taught civics in the country for 40 or 50 years and right now we’re not doing a better job of that,” said Sasse.
“None of us know the Bill of Rights and it’s getting worse rapidly. We don’t understand what a precarious position we are now in because of poor basic civil knowledge,” said Glenn on Tuesday’s show. “It’s the one thing we all agree on, the Bill of Rights, but we don’t know them and so we’re vulnerable.”
Watch the video clip at the top of the page to hear more from Glenn.