Thomas Jefferson wrote: “I know of no safe depository of the ultimate power of the society but the people themselves.” This of course depends on people who know enough to be wise holders of this ultimate power and know enough about our system to be able to participate. So, what are the trends in our political knowledge?

Since the 1970s, Americans have become distinctly less likely to follow public affairs, and specifically to read a newspaper. Newspaper reading is strongly correlated with civic participation. Already in the 1830s, Tocqueville observed “a necessary connection between public associations and newspapers: newspapers make associations and associations make newspapers.”6 In 2000, according to the National Election Survey, regular newspaper readers were much more likely than other Americans to volunteer, work on issues in their communities, attend local meetings, contact public officials, belong to organizations, and belong to organizations that influence schools.

There is nothing intrinsically superior about a news source that happens to be printed on paper. Newspaper reading, however, has been a better indicator of civic engagement than watching TV news. Although some now get their news through the Internet, this cannot account for the drop in newspaper readership since most of the decline occurred before the Internet had wide reach. And even now, the Internet lags far behind television and newspapers as Americans’ “main source of news.”7

We have included statistics on online participation and expect them to have an increasingly significant impact on the Index. Internet “chat” is included among the measures of “connecting with others”; and reading weblogs or “blogs” is included among the news sources.

Despite the decline in news consumption, the measures that have been collected regularly over time show Americans, if anything, apparently better informed about current politics and civic principles than in the recent past. This increase is driven by two variables: awareness of the ideological differences between the major political parties and the belief that the government is comprehensible. Both of those variables typically predict political participation. Many political scientists would argue that the increased ideological polarization of the two major parties actually contributes to citizens’ knowledge by sending clearer signals about what their votes are likely to mean in practice. On the other hand, Americans’ decreasing ability to name their own congressional representatives may be an indicator of disengagement from the news or declining electoral competition at the congressional level.

The most comprehensive look at the trends in Americans’ political knowledge found that that there was remarkably little change in the half century after World War II, despite huge increases in schooling and growth of mass communications.8 It is important to note, however, that there is a paucity of good information about Americans’ political knowledge. The federal government is now planning to conduct regular National Assessments of Educational Progress (NAEP) in civics and American history. (The available Assessments are included in the Civic Health Index but show little change). We think this is an area of the Civic Health Index that could be significantly improved by more regular measurement.9