More than 1 in 3 Americans can't name all 3 branches of government
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More than a third of Americans can't name all three branches of government, according to the 2026 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey.
Why it matters: Knowing how the government works, and which rights are protected by the Constitution, gives Americans basic civic knowledge to understand their rights.
- "Ignorance is costly," Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director emerita of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, said about the poll. "You can't protect and cherish rights that you don't know you have."
By the numbers: 65% of U.S. adults can name the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, the national survey found.
- 35% couldn't name all three: 11% named two branches, 8% identified one and 16% couldn't name any.
Zoom out: Americans also struggled to identify the five rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
- Just 9% named all five First Amendment rights, while 24% couldn't name any of them.
- One in four incorrectly mentioned the right to bear arms, which is protected under the Second Amendment.
The fine print: The survey was conducted Aug. 6–9 among 1,034 U.S. adults with a 3.5-point margin of error. Annenberg notes that the 2024 and 2025 data were collected using different panels, limiting direct year-over-year comparisons.
