In 2006, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Civics Assessment found that only 27% of high school seniors were “proficient” in the subject, and only 5% were “advanced.”15 Such low levels of civic knowledge raise alarms about the future vibrancy of our democracy and its institutions, which depend upon citizens and leaders with a thorough understanding of American history and government.

We asked about “requiring high school students to pass a new test on civics or government.” Sixty-seven percent favored the idea, 47% strongly. We had deliberately made the idea controversial by including the idea of a “new test.” We recognize that there would be other ways to strengthen civic education, such as developing new curricula or providing teacher education, but again we wanted to set a high bar to test the depth of support. Even with the implication that testing would be increased, this proposal received wide backing. Republicans, men, people with college educations, and older people showed relatively stronger support. Only 32% of young adults with no college educations gave strong support. Among people of high school age, a minority (44%) supported the “new test,” 25% strongly. This seems a relatively high level of support for a new test.