Democratic institutions and healthy communities require informed citizens: People who understand current issues, opportunities for change, and other people's views and interests. Newspaper reading has a traditionally strong correlation with civic and political participation, and other emerging news sources represent potential assets to democracy and civil society. Discussing politics with friends and family is an opportunity to share and process the information provided by news sources and to exchange knowledge drawn directly from experience. Access to such information and discussion of it are therefore important indicators of North Carolina's civic health.

North Carolinians who keep up with the news are more likely to volunteer. Those who engage in political discussions with others are more likely to x something in the community with neighbors, an important measure of civic engagement. Residents who keep up with news, discuss politics with friends and family, or both are more likely to donate money than those who do neither.

North Carolinians are similar to their national counterparts in the way they access news and discuss current and political issues with others. Among North Carolinians, 28% access news frequently and discuss politics with others; 32% do neither. Unfortunately, it is the state's youngest residents who are most likely to do neither; 44.5% of North Carolina's Millennials neither access news frequently nor discuss politics with others.

The state's African–American, white, and Hispanic residents report similar rates of news consumption and discussion of current events. However, there are signicant gaps between the state's low– and high–income residents. Nearly forty percent (37.2%) of North Carolinians living in lower–income households (with an annual income of less than $35,000) neither access news frequently nor engage in political discussions with others. Conversely, 40% of North Carolina's wealthiest residents (those living in households with an annual income of $75,000 or more) do access the news frequently and engage in political discussion with others. Residents living in metropolitan areas are slightly more likely to access the news frequently and engage in political discussion with others (30%) than rural North Carolinians (24%).

There is a very notable gap in access to information between North Carolinians with some college experience and those without. Residents with some college experience are twice as likely to access the news frequently and engage in political discussions with others than those with no college experience (35% versus 18%). Moreover, 41% of North Carolinians with no college experience are relatively unconnected to current events — they neither access the news frequently nor discuss politics with others.

It is through informed participation in North Carolina's political and community activities that all residents have the opportunity to shape the future of the state. These gaps along economic, geographic, and educational lines are cause for serious concern; if not addressed, they have the potential to perpetuate a cycle of civic apathy.