As in much previous research, we find a positive relationship between a citizen’s feeling of empowerment and whether or not he or she is civically engaged.29 Respondents were asked to agree or disagree with a series of three statements that concerned their personal efficacy:

• People like me don’t have any say about what the government does.

• So many other people vote in the national elections that it doesn’t matter much to me whether I vote or not.

•Sometimes politics and government seem so complicated that a person like me can’t really understand what’s going on.

For the entire sample, those who strongly disagreed that politics and government seem so complicated were more likely to attend a club or community meeting (36%), work on a community project (25%), and attend public meetings (27%), than those who gave a disempowered response.30 Findings were similar for those who strongly disagreed with the other two statements. This is true for those demographic groups who have been considered less engaged in the past: low-income and less educated. It is true of Millennials and African Americans.31

39% of those African Americans who strongly disagreed with the statement “sometimes politics and government seem so complicated that a person like me can’t really understand what’s going on” also attended a public meeting regarding community affairs within the past year. (Only 14% of those who agree with the preceding statement have attended a meeting).

Similarly, those individuals who earned less than $50,000 a year and felt empowered were more likely to go to a club or community meeting (33%) versus those who feel disempowered (22%).

Millennials, too, followed this pattern—41% of Millennials who felt empowered also worked on a community project within the past year.

25% of those 18+ with no college experience who felt their federal election vote counts also went to a club or community meeting within the past year.