The 2008 survey finds that Americans are actively engaged with this year’s presidential election. For example, more than half said they had tried to persuade someone else to vote for or against a particular candidate; and 39% said they had watched an Internet video that supported or opposed a presidential candidate. But more say they are “frustrated” (43%) than “excited” (19%) by the presidential election.

We know that Americans will engage in many ways after the election. For instance, recent federal surveys have found that 26-28 percent of adults volunteer each year. And more than half of all Americans are members of at least one voluntary group or association. Consistent with historic trends, these forms of engagement will no doubt continue after Election Day.

Not many people expect to work on the issues raised in the campaign after Election Day. Just fourteen percent, for instance, were confident that they would try to change local policies in schools, neighborhoods, or the workplace. Less than 20% were sure they would talk about the issues raised in the campaign after it is over.

However, citizens overwhelmingly support changes in laws and policies that would support greater citizen engagement between elections.

87% support giving every young person the opportunity to earn tuition money by completing a year of national or community service;

80% favor holding a national deliberation on a major issue and requiring Congress to respond to what citizens say;

76% would like to see service- learning (combinations of classroom learning and community service) required in schools; and

67% would strengthen civic education by requiring new tests in that subject

These opinions are largely bipartisan and intergenerational.

The 2008 Civic Health Index and other surveys conducted since 2004 support the following overview of the state of civic health:

Levels of conventional community participation and connectedness (belonging to groups, attending meetings, working on community projects, and trusting other citizens) are low compared to 20 or 30 years ago.

People are more engaged in formal politics (voting, giving money to candidates, talking about the election) than they were in the 1990s, but such engagement is volatile and driven by political and news events.

Rates of volunteering spiked after 9/11 and continued to grow and remain high through 2005, but have declined since that time.

There are considerably more options today for expressing political views than existed 30 years ago, and some (such as voting on online videos or commenting on blogs) are quite prevalent, engaging people who previously were not engaged.

Members of the Millennial Generation (born between 1980-1995) are the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in American history, and are volunteering at higher rates than their parents did at the same point in their lives. This engagement is very uniform across racial and ethnic lines, while older generations showed a pattern of differing and unequal engagement across ethnic groups. The Millennials’ parent generation, Baby Boomers, were more likely to belong to groups and clubs when they were young, but the prevalence of the Internet is helping the Millennial Generation to get more involved. However, we classify more than half of the Millennials as “not very engaged.” A substantial group (17%) is involved in volunteer service but not in other types of engagement; they may need help connecting their service to leadership in formal groups and clubs and political participation.

Their parents’ generation, the Boomers, are reaching the point when civic engagement typically reaches its peak and are quite broadly engaged—twice as much as the Millennials at this point in history. More than a third of them are deeply involved in several different forms of civic work, which makes them potential leaders and mentors. As they enter and near retirement, we need to tap their civic energy and skills. Because both the Millennials and Boomers represent 75-80 million Americans, in each generation, even small shifts in civic behavior can have a transformative effect.

People without college educations are underrepresented in most aspects of politics and civil society, although younger people who have never attended college do participate in online groups, which may provide opportunities to engage them more.

Overall, African Americans are more engaged than whites—especially in this election cycle. African Americans surpass the rest of the population in voting, going to political meetings and rallies, talking to other people about politics, and also attending local meetings to discuss community issues.

Americans give ambivalent responses to most words and phrases that are used to describe and promote civic engagement. “Democracy” elicits a relatively high level of negative responses, especially from Generation X (ages 30- 44). Contrary to some news reports that “community organizing” is controversial and associated with the political left, it actually evokes thoughts of charity and helping others. Overall, we still need more compelling ways to talk about active and collaborative civic engagement in simple language that connects to how Americans communicate about their civic activities.