Americans who are highly engaged in public life are more likely than those who are less engaged to correctly answer several factual questions about politics.
Meanwhile, those who are less engaged are the most likely across the board to say they are unsure about the answers to these questions, including which political parties and leaders are currently in office.
Note: Engagement groups are based on a cluster analysis that sorted Americans into four groups based on their responses to 19 questions about political activity, civic involvement, religious attendance and attention to news. All questions are multiple choice; for full question wording, refer to the topline. Respondents who did not answer are not shown.
| Question | Correct | Incorrect | Not sure | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobilizers | Which political party currently has majority control in the U.S. Senate? (Republicans) | 84 | 7 | 9 |
| Connectors | Which political party currently has majority control in the U.S. Senate? (Republicans) | 86 | 5 | 9 |
| Spectators | Which political party currently has majority control in the U.S. Senate? (Republicans) | 73 | 6 | 20 |
| Outsiders | Which political party currently has majority control in the U.S. Senate? (Republicans) | 59 | 4 | 37 |
| Mobilizers | Which political party currently has majority control in the U.S. House of Representatives (Republicans) | 85 | 6 | 8 |
| Connectors | Which political party currently has majority control in the U.S. House of Representatives (Republicans) | 86 | 4 | 10 |
| Spectators | Which political party currently has majority control in the U.S. House of Representatives (Republicans) | 74 | 5 | 21 |
| Outsiders | Which political party currently has majority control in the U.S. House of Representatives (Republicans) | 58 | 4 | 38 |
| Mobilizers | Which position is currently held by__? (when provided their state’s current governor) | 85 | 9 | 6 |
| Connectors | Which position is currently held by__? (when provided their state’s current governor) | 91 | 3 | 6 |
| Spectators | Which position is currently held by__? (when provided their state’s current governor) | 79 | 6 | 14 |
| Outsiders | Which position is currently held by__? (when provided their state’s current governor) | 71 | 4 | 24 |
| Mobilizers | Which term best describes a U.S. government tax on goods imported into the U.S.? (tariff) | 87 | 8 | 4 |
| Connectors | Which term best describes a U.S. government tax on goods imported into the U.S.? (tariff) | 95 | 2 | 3 |
| Spectators | Which term best describes a U.S. government tax on goods imported into the U.S.? (tariff) | 86 | 3 | 10 |
| Outsiders | Which term best describes a U.S. government tax on goods imported into the U.S.? (tariff) | 78 | 2 | 20 |
Note: Engagement groups are based on a cluster analysis that sorted Americans into four groups based on their responses to 19 questions about political activity, civic involvement, religious attendance and attention to news. All questions are multiple choice; for full question wording, refer to the topline. Respondents who did not answer are not shown.
To examine what U.S. adults know about American politics, we asked four factual questions about current issues, figures and institutions:
- Which political party has majority control in the U.S. Senate? (Republican Party)
- Which political party has majority control in the U.S. House of Representatives? (Republican Party)
- What position is held by [the name of the governor in your state]? (Governor; D.C. residents were asked about their mayor)
- What term describes a U.S. government tax on imported goods? (Tariff)
These quiz-like questions are not designed to capture the entirety of what people know about politics, but these types of questions have been shown in studies to serve as a good proxy for broader political knowledge.
How engagement relates to knowledge about politics
On each of the four questions, most Americans answer correctly. Almost three-quarters know that the Republican Party currently has majority control of both the House and the Senate (73% each). And even larger shares recognize the name of their state’s governor (80%) or know that a U.S. government tax on imported goods is called a tariff (86%).
Our new study also sorted Americans into four groups based on their answers to questions about engagement in public life.
The least engaged group is significantly less likely to answer each question correctly – although majorities still get these answers correct. For example, 59% of Outsiders know that Republicans currently have majority control of the U.S. Senate, and 58% know the same about the U.S. House of Representatives. About seven-in-ten adults in this group (71%) recognize the name of their state’s governor, while 78% know the definition of a tariff.
| Group | One or more not sure | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. adults | group1 | 32 |
| Mobilizers | group2 | 15 |
| Connectors | group2 | 16 |
| Spectators | group2 | 32 |
| Outsiders | group2 | 50 |
Gaps between groups are largely due to differences in the percentages of people who say they are not sure about the answer – and not differences in people selecting the wrong answer. On all four questions, no more than 10% in each of the four groups selected an incorrect response.
The differences across engagement groups are even more evident when looking at all four questions together. Half of Outsiders (50%) said they are not sure on at least one question, compared with 15% of Mobilizers and 16% of Connectors. Likewise, only 41% of Outsiders were able to correctly answer all four questions, versus majorities of Connectors (72%) and Mobilizers (68%).
Age, education and political involvement are also important factors intertwined with both engagement and knowledge about politics. But our analysis shows that engagement is linked with knowledge even when controlling for these other factors.
About the engagement groups
This study sorts Americans into four groups based on their answers to 19 questions about how they engage (or don’t engage) in society through political activity, civic involvement, religious service attendance and attention to news. The four groups are:
Mobilizers: Doing it all. This group is the smallest and the most active across politics, civics, news and religion.
Connectors: Involved, but less political. This group is larger than the Mobilizers and also highly engaged in many ways – including joining groups and making donations – but much less likely than the Mobilizers to be heavily involved in political activities.
Spectators: Keeping an eye on things. They follow the news at high rates but are much less likely than the more engaged groups to participate directly in other ways.
Outsiders: Less involved in most ways. This group is less likely than others to report taking part in most of the activities we asked about – including voting, volunteering and following the news.
Political knowledge gaps by education
Education is closely related to levels of knowledge about politics. Across all four engagement groups, Americans with college degrees tend to be more likely to correctly answer all four factual questions.
For example, 67% of Spectators with a college degree got all four questions correct. That compares with 46% of Spectators with only a high school diploma.
| College+ | Some college | HS or less | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobilizers | 83 | 66 | 41 |
| Connectors | 80 | 69 | 62 |
| Spectators | 67 | 61 | 46 |
| Outsiders | 57 | 45 | 31 |
Political knowledge gaps by age
Older adults in each engagement group are the most likely to answer all four questions correctly, with similar patterns by age apparent across the four groups.
For example, 83% of Mobilizers ages 50 and older answered all four questions correctly, compared with 49% of Mobilizers under 30.
| Ages 18-29 | 30-49 | 50+ | Oldest-Youngest difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobilizers | 49 | 58 | 83 | +34 |
| Connectors | 52 | 69 | 77 | +25 |
| Spectators | 45 | 55 | 69 | +24 |
| Outsiders | 20 | 37 | 53 | +33 |
The gender gap in responses to political knowledge questions
“How Americans Are Engaged With News, Politics, Religion and Civic Life”
| Men | Women | |
|---|---|---|
| Mobilizers | 13 | 15 |
| Connectors | 11 | 21 |
| Spectators | 24 | 41 |
| Outsiders | 38 | 59 |
“How Americans Are Engaged With News, Politics, Religion and Civic Life”
Women were generally more likely than men to say they were unsure about the answers to the factual political questions we asked. This pattern matches long-standing research showing that men are more likely to guess the answer to these kinds of factual questions rather than respond that they don’t know.
But there is no significant gap among the most engaged group: Roughly the same share of women and men who are Mobilizers responded “not sure” to one or more knowledge question (15% and 13%, respectively).
By contrast, among Outsiders, 59% of women said they were not sure on one or more of the four questions, versus 38% of men.
