In the 2009 survey, after asking many questions about civic engagement, we asked, “In your opinion, how strong is the civic tradition of your state?” The top three states in this regard were Texas, Minnesota and Kansas.26 (Vermont and Utah scored higher, but the sample sizes were too small to provide reliable estimates.) On the other hand, citizens of Illinois, Arizona, and Georgia were likely to rate their civic traditions as weaker than other states.

Few, if any, significant differences in civic engagement emerged between residents of high- and low-scoring states that could not be explained by differences in demographics (e.g., income and education). However, state average civic perception did predict the portion of people in the state who said they trusted state and local governments. This finding suggests that citizens’ collective perception of civic tradition is associated with the state-level trust in its government. This seems complimentary to key findings of the Soul of the Community27 project of the Knight Foundation and Gallup, where they have investigated individual’s psychological connection with their community and their resulting citizen engagement.

Individuals differed in how they felt about the civic tradition of their states. This individual feeling was a very strong predictor of civic engagement. For example:

54% of those who thought their state had a strong civic tradition volunteered, compared to 31% who thought it was “not very strong.”

32% of people who thought their states’ civic traditions were strong increased their civic engagement, compared to 25% who saw “weaker” traditions.

29% of those who thought their states had strong civic traditions were members of nonprofits or committees that had budgets (compared to 16-17% in among those who saw an “average” or “weaker” traditions).

32% of people who thought their states’ civic traditions were strong also thought their communities responded to the current economy by helping one another (compared to 9% who thought that their states’ traditions were “weaker” than average).

Our analysis showed that an individual’s perception of a state’s civic tradition predicts various forms of engagement above and beyond the person’s education, income level, race, religious service attendance and social connection to others.28 There are at least two ways to interpret this finding. First, being engaged may enhance opinions about the civic culture. Certainly, people who are engaged have more favorable views of their own states’ civic traditions, regardless of what other people in the same states feel. Second, believing that other people are civically engaged may encourage an individual to engage. One of the barriers to promotion of civic engagement is a perception that very few people are highly engaged. Thus, spreading the idea that civic engagement is common in one’s state (or in local one’s community, or among peer group members) may actually yield higher levels of engagement.