What Americans Know about Their Rights in Three Depressing Tweets
In these three tweets from USA Today, citing numbers from a recent Newseum poll, I find myself completely horrified about the state of civic knowledge in America.
A look at these numbers shows not only how little Americans know about their rights, but how American education has failed.
On #ConstitutionDay, it's important to know your rights. pic.twitter.com/4PuksulBS4
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) September 17, 2015
Slightly more than half of Americans polled know that we are guaranteed the right to free speech under the First Amendment. That number is surprisingly small, yet it towers over knowledge of other First Amendment Rights. In fact, the number of people who know that it guarantees citizens the right to freedom of religion, press, assembly and petition combined only brings us up to 41%, significantly fewer people than the 57% who knew about free speech. Perhaps even more terrifying are the 33%, an entire third, who couldn’t name a single First Amendment right.
What other horrors are in store from this poll? Well, there’s this, on the role of the media.
No argument here #ConstitutionDay pic.twitter.com/YXSbq8cUCo
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) September 17, 2015
Since 2011, that number has risen and fallen, but stayed in the mid 70s. Last year, 80% of respondents believed that the news should act as a watchdog on government. This year, that dropped significantly, down to only 69%. Do the other 31% of Americans believe that the government should be able to act without scrutiny? We should all be concerned that, in one year, 11% of Americans who formerly believed that it was important for the media to keep an eye on the government no longer believe so.
We can’t watch over the government, but an alarming number of respondents thought that the government should be able to keep an eye (and ear) on us.
Majority says … no #ConstitutionDay pic.twitter.com/AOacykTq1H
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) September 17, 2015
Just more than half believe it’s wrong for the government to spy (yes, that’s the word used) on the e-mails and phone calls of private citizens. More than a third believe that it’s OK, and then there is that 9% which isn’t quite sure.
Pretty stunning, isn’t it?
