A new survey shows Americans are shockingly poorly informed about some of the basic things in the U.S. Constitution.
The study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found:
- Only 1/4 of Americans can name all three branches of government.
- More than a third cannot name any rights guaranteed under the First Amendment.
- More than half of Americans incorrectly believe that immigrants who are in the country illegally do not have any rights under the Constitution.
While only 26% of Americans can name all three branches of government, conservatives are much more likely to be able to name all three than those who identify as liberal. 33% of those surveyed could not name any of the three branches.
37% of Americans could not name any of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, while 15% could identify freedom of religion and 14% named freedom of the press. 39% of Americans think Congress should be able to stop the news media from reporting issues that deal with national security without the approval of the government.
53% of Americans said illegal immigrants do not have any rights under the Constitution, which is not true. 67% of political conservatives incorrectly believe undocumented immigrants have no rights under the Constitution, while only 48% of liberals hold that inaccurate view.
