{"id":2672,"date":"2026-07-03T07:07:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2672"},"modified":"2026-07-03T07:07:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:07:24","slug":"most-gen-z-cant-answer-basic-questions-on-u-s-history-at-250th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2672","title":{"rendered":"Most Gen Z can’t answer basic questions on U.S. history at 250th"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Even as President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement gut civics in public schools by dismantling the Department of Education and pushing pro-MAGA interpretations of history and \u201cGod-centered education,\u201d a new study suggests that Generation Z can ill afford this educational erosion, as they are shockingly ignorant of basic facts about American history.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump given \u2018keys to the kingdom\u2019 warns conservative political scientist<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNearly two-thirds (61 percent) of Americans under 30 are unaware of what America\u2019s 250th is commemorating this year, while just 39 percent know we are celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence,\u201d reported Cato Institute\u2019s Jonah Messinger and Emily Ekins on Thursday. The right-leaning think tank conducted a survey, the Cato Institute Fourth of July Survey, with the help of the polling firm Morning Consult.<\/p>\n

Messenger and Ekins added that \u201ca majority (52 percent) of Gen Z Americans also don\u2019t know what country from which the American colonies declared their independence, while 48 percent correctly answered that it was Great Britain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, \u201cMore importantly, two-thirds (67 percent) of Gen Z do not know why the American colonies declared independence from Great Britain, while 33 percent correctly answered that it was to protest high taxes and a lack of representation in government.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a bright spot in the numbers, in that 66 percent of Generation Z knew America\u2019s first president was George Washington. That number, however, is 11 points less than the number of Americans overall who know their nation\u2019s first president.<\/p>\n

\u201cSix in ten Americans (64 percent) under 30 likewise don\u2019t know what the main purpose of the US Constitution is,\u201d Messenger and Ekins wrote. \u201cInstead, 14 percent thought the main purpose of the Constitution was to declare independence from Great Britain (which is what the Declaration of Independence did), 17 percent thought the main purpose was to create a presidency, Congress, and Supreme Court, 8 percent thought it was to list all federal laws, and 4 percent thought it was to create two major political parties. Another 21 percent admitted they didn\u2019t know. Only 36 percent knew that the main purpose of the Constitution is to establish and limit the powers of government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Republicans have a \u2018dirty little secret\u2019 that will make Trump furious<\/a><\/p>\n

In a separate Thursday post about the poll, Ekins identified similarly ominous findings about the American public overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cA new national survey from the Cato Institute, conducted in collaboration with Morning Consult of 2,253 Americans ahead of July 4th and America\u2019s 250th anniversary, finds nearly half (46 percent) of Americans don\u2019t know what America\u2019s 250th anniversary commemorates,\u201d Ekins wrote. \u201cA little more than half (53 percent) correctly answered that it was the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The survey discovered that \u201cwhile most Americans have at least an instinctive sense that the US Constitution protects their rights, a majority (58 percent) don\u2019t actually know how it accomplishes this. Less than half (41 percent) correctly said that the Constitution\u2019s purpose is to establish and limit the powers of government. The remaining said the purpose of the Constitution was to declare independence from Great Britain (17 percent), create the presidency, Congress, and Supreme Court (12 percent), list all federal laws (7 percent), or create two major political parties (4 percent), while 18 percent conceded they don\u2019t know what the purpose of the Constitution is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The survey also found majorities of Americans support ideas about how to change America\u2019s Constitution that one or the other party staunchly oppose. These include conservative views such as requiring photo ID to vote (66 percent), requiring a balanced budget (69 percent), making English the nation’s official language (64 percent), banning flag burning (60 percent) and banning transgender women from women\u2019s sports (59 percent). It also includes liberal views such as guaranteeing health care (73 percent), providing free college (60 percent), limiting money in political campaigns (69 percent), guaranteeing a right to abortion (58 percent), banning hate speech (58 percent) and increasing taxes on the wealthy (58 percent).<\/p>\n

Read more Trump officials lash out at\u00a0protesters in DC park<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even as President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement gut civics in public schools by dismantling the Department of Education and pushing pro-MAGA interpretations of history and \u201cGod-centered education,\u201d a new study suggests that Generation Z can ill afford this educational erosion, as they are shock…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMost Gen Z can't answer basic questions on U.S. history at 250th - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2672\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Most Gen Z can't answer basic questions on U.S. history at 250th - 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