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• Many Americans lack basic civic knowledge, such as the existence of their own state's constitution.
• A decline in civic education is linked to increased political polarization, incivility, and negative partisanship.
• Research suggests a strong connection between civic knowledge and a greater tolerance for opposing political views.
• The authors argue that reviving civic education is crucial for the health of American democracy and can moderate political conflict.

Americans don’t agree on much these days, but we have converged on one point: Our politics is toxic. Public deliberation, if one can call it that, is angry, tribal and exhausting.

Too often we treat degraded discourse as a matter of manners, as if a trip to political finishing school would fix the problem. The crisis, however, is deeper. It is at its core a problem of civic education.

A recent survey we conducted at the Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville revealed that only about half of Tennesseans know their state has its own constitution. This is not a one-state outlier. It reflects a broader pattern. National surveys regularly show Americans struggle to identify basic institutions, explain constitutional principles such as separation of powers, or distinguish among federal, state and local authority.

Democracy and self-government require shared understanding

This matters not because citizens must become constitutional scholars, but because constitutional democracy requires a shared understanding of, and commitment to, the underpinnings of our republic. Self-government requires more than untutored opinion. It depends on civic virtues and dispositions, including understanding, restraint, and disagreement within rules. These habits cannot exist if citizens do not recognize that the system is designed to restrain transitory impulses, slow decision-making, and force compromise. When that knowledge fades, politics becomes harder, if not impossible.

Polarization and incivility stem from a lack of civic knowledge

We often describe today’s difficulties as polarization or incivility. Those diagnoses are accurate but incomplete. Both are grounded in the erosion of civic education, not only in the ideals of our system but also in the skills each generation needs to participate in politics without interpreting disagreement as a struggle between good and evil.

Our survey pointed toward a related trend. Younger respondents were more likely to say they vote against candidates rather than for them, reflecting what political scientists call negative partisanship. This phenomenon travels with other political comorbidities, including sacrificing democratic and constitutional norms for short-term political gain. If these attitudes among younger voters harden, today’s conflicts might seem trivial compared to tomorrow’s.

There is also increasing evidence of a greater willingness among some respondents, especially younger ones, to justify political violence. Combine that with the tone of modern political rhetoric, from cable commentary to legislative chambers, and the result is predictable. When expectations about disagreement disappear, conversation collapses into silence or hostility. We have allowed civic education to atrophy, and emotion-fueled rhetoric has filled the vacuum.

Civic knowledge fosters tolerance of opposing views  

In our survey, Tennesseans broadly endorsed civility, but they disagreed sharply on what it meant. For some, it meant respectful disagreement; for others, avoiding controversy altogether. When citizens no longer share expectations about how disagreement should work, public conversation deteriorates.

Research increasingly suggests that civic ignorance intensifies this dynamic. A 2025 study by Florida State University’s Institute for Governance and Civics found a strong relationship between civic knowledge and political toleration. Citizens who understood constitutional structure, federalism and the Bill of Rights were significantly more likely to tolerate opposing political views. Those with lower civic literacy were more willing to silence or dismiss opposing viewpoints.

Our Constitution is designed as a framework for disagreement  

This relationship is not surprising. Understanding the separation of powers teaches that the Constitution was designed to prevent any faction from permanently winning. Understanding the First Amendment means recognizing that protecting one’s own speech requires tolerating speech one dislikes. Civic knowledge does not eliminate disagreement. It moderates and channels it by reminding citizens that political conflict exists within a larger constitutional framework.

Properly understood, civic education is not about lecturing students about what to think or whom to support. It is about teaching how our constitutional system functions and why it depends on restraint, argument and intellectual humility. It connects knowledge to listening, persuasion, and recognition that political opponents may legitimately see the world differently. As Sen. Howard Baker famously observed, “the other fellow might be right.”

Without civics education, disagreements grow into contempt and hatred

Universities now find that many students arrive, and often depart, with little formal exposure to civic education. This is not a personal failing. It is a systemic one. Public institutions of higher education exist not only to prepare workers but to prepare citizens. A constitutional republic cannot survive if its citizens do not understand the structures governing them, distrust everyone who disagrees with them, or lack the habits required for civil argument.

Citizens unaware that their state has a constitution are unlikely to think carefully about amending it or defending it. Extend that ignorance across institutions and generations, and politics becomes driven less by informed policy preferences than by impulse.

Civic education will not solve every political problem. Free societies will always argue, and they should. But without civic education, as we have witnessed, those disagreements metastasize into contempt and hatred.

Here’s why all is not lost    

Fortunately, our survey also provides hope. In this exceedingly short-sighted age, we tend to think Americans want education to lead only to employment and a reliable paycheck. Yet we also found that nearly as many Tennesseans believe K-12 and college education should prepare students for citizenship as for work. If that finding reflects national attitudes, then we have good reason to believe we can revive our civic health.

Joshua Dunn is executive director and William Lyons is associate director of the Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee.