More Than 1 in 3 Americans Cannot Name All 3 Branches of Government

More than 1 in 3 Americans cannot name all 3 branches

More than one in three U.S. adults cannot name all three branches of the federal government, according to a new civics survey reported by Axios.

Just 65% of respondents could name the executive, legislative, and judicial branches in an open ended question. That means 35% could not name the full set.

The figure is not a statistically significant change from 70% in 2025 or 65% in 2024, so the gap has barely moved in three years.

First Amendment knowledge is thinner

The survey was the 2026 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey, run by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania among 1,034 U.S. adults from Aug. 6 to 9, 2026, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Freedom of speech was the only First Amendment right named by a majority, at 73%, down from 79% in 2025. Freedom of religion was named by 43%, assembly by 31%, and press by 29%.

Just 12% named the right to petition the government, only 9% named all five rights, and 24% named none. A full 25% incorrectly named the right to bear arms, which is a Second Amendment right.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center said: "Ignorance is costly."

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How this could hit the options market

A civics survey does not move prices by itself, and there is no direct trade here. The read for investors is political risk: an electorate with low institutional knowledge can swing faster on headlines, which raises event risk around elections, court rulings, and shutdown fights.

That kind of uncertainty tends to show up in volatility products and index hedges first, so watch SPY, QQQ, and VIXY positioning heading into the midterm cycle.

Education and media names occasionally trade on civics and curriculum debates, but the cleaner expression is staying hedged into major Washington events.

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