A Third of Americans Cannot Name Our Three Branches of Government.

Now ask what each branch does.

The 2026 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey found that 65% of American adults could name all three branches of government - executive, legislative, and judicial. That is unchanged, statistically, from 65% in 2024 and 70% in 2025. Three years. No progress.

Of the 35% who could not: 11% named two branches, 8% offered one, and 16% could not think of a single one.

Ask which rights the First Amendment guarantees and 73% name freedom of speech - down significantly from 79% a year ago. It is the only one of the five that more than half of Americans can name.

“Ignorance is costly,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director emerita of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. “You can’t protect and cherish rights that you don’t know you have.”

What we know, and what we do not

Freedom of speech is named by 73% of Americans. Each of the other four First Amendment rights is named by fewer than half. Freedom of religion, the next most often cited, is named by 43%.

Freedom of the press, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government all fall below that - petition lowest, at 12%.

This is just one example. Go deeper and it is alarming to consider how little most of us know about our rights and how our government is structured and operates.

But we all have opinions on what’s wrong with America - without full knowledge of how our government was uniquely structured, how it works, and why it offers the most freedom to commoners - like you and me.

Our Constitution is a covenant - freedom in exchange for responsibility. Growing numbers of Americans have unknowingly traded this for double standards and demands for special rights.

Then there is the Court

The 2025 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey asked Americans whether they trust the Supreme Court to operate in their best interests. 41% said they have at least a moderate amount of trust. Ten months before that, it was 44%.

But the average is not the number that should stop you. The split is.

Among Republicans, 75% have at least moderate trust in the Court. Among independents, 38%. Among Democrats, 18%.

That is a 57-point gap between the two major parties, on a single institution - the one branch designed to stand furthest from politics.

Read that again.

The answer to “is the Supreme Court working in your interest?” no longer depends on what’s best for the common good. It depends on your political party.

What are our branches of government for?

Not efficiency.  The Founders could have created something faster.  They intentionally built something slower because it was safer.

Our Founders knew that human nature is a blend of passion and reason - and often passion is quick and wrong.  Therefore, our three branches of government were purposefully designed to balance and limit one another.

Congress writes the laws.  The President carries them out.  The courts decide what they mean.  No single branch does all three, and each one can stop the other two.

That is the entire point.  Not smooth government - safe government.  A design where no person, no party, and no faction can ever gather enough power to take your rights away.

It protects you from whoever is in charge.  Including the people you voted for.

Why this lack of knowledge is a major problem

Knowing the three branches of American government is a start.  It is not the same as understanding how carefully and wisely our republic was designed to protect common citizens - and put us all on equal ground.

Citizens who can name the branches - but cannot say what they are for - have seen the roof of a house and assumed the whole structure is sound.  They know nothing about the stability of the foundation, the framing, the wiring, the plumbing, or anything else that affects their ability to reside there long-term.

They may be able to provide a minimum outline of how a bill becomes law and have an opinion on whether the law is just - or not.  But they do not take the time to consider the details by asking our 4Q Scrolls questions:

Q1 - What does the law mean? 

Q2 - What evidence supports the law, or indicates it is flawed? 

Q3 - What’s the impact if the law becomes reality? 

Q4 - What’s truly best for the common good?

The gap is the difference between a citizen who governs and one who is merely governed.

John Adams warned of this risk:  “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”  -  John Adams, letter to the Massachusetts Militia, October 11, 1798

Thomas Jefferson made a similar point about education.  Writing to William Charles Jarvis in 1820, he said:  “I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society, but the people themselves: and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their controul with a wholsome discretion, the remedy is, not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education.  this is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.”  -  Extract from Thomas Jefferson to William C. Jarvis, Thomas Jefferson Retirement Series, Monticello

Do you want America to heal?

Start with yourself.  Study the purpose of our government, how it operates, and whether the actions of our politicians and bureaucrats are consistent with our covenant to maintain what’s best for the common good.

If you do not know what the covenant is, you cannot realize when it has been broken. 

So, you take the easy route.  Without question - or much thought - you accept the soundbites of your political party, a loud voice in the media, or a charismatic friend - which is precisely what the Supreme Court numbers show us doing.

Simple Liberty exists to share facts that help you protect yourself, your loved ones, what you’ve worked for, and your freedom.  We research issues to give you the facts faster and easier.  This also enables you to avoid impulsive assumptions, judgments based on partial facts or lies, and decisions made in fear.

Go deeper

The thought, effort, and integrity of our Founders’ design of the United States of America is unique in all the world’s history.

Simple Liberty is not the only place to learn how our American republic works, and we would not want to be.  It’s in your best interest - especially during these turbulent times - to better comprehend how our government was built and what it was designed to protect.

Here is an easy path: 

1.      Choose a source to learn the facts about America's history, how our government uniquely works, and our responsibilities as citizens. 

Be careful which source you choose.  All media has a bias.  The question is whether that bias is based on facts, or whether that bias manipulates the facts.

2.      Listen to free courses while at the gym, walking, driving - time you do have available no matter how busy you are.  And complete the quizzes for each lesson when you’re not driving - when it’s safe to do so.

Even better - watch the courses with family and friends.  Discuss what you learn.

We like the free courses from Hillsdale College.  Here are some of our favorites:

 

NOTE:  These free courses come from Hillsdale College, which is a conservative organization.  We recommend them for one reason:  We have completed these Hillsdale courses (and more), and found them to be overflowing with facts.  If you know a course that offers similar value, please email us.  We will consider it.

SOURCES:  2026 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey, Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, released September 15, 2026.  Conducted for APPC by SSRS, August 6-9, 2026 (n=1,034).  Margin of sampling error ±3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.  Supreme Court trust figures are from the 2025 edition, fielded March 2025 (n=1,363). Anna Stills/Shutterstock.com