In 2008, we find people involved in the following ways. This list reflects our current working definition of “civic health” and is a baseline for future studies that will repeat the same methodology.

Connecting to civic and religious groups. Such groups are the seedbeds of democracy. They recruit and educate citizens, bring them together for discussion, and increase their capacity for improving society. We find the following rates of connection in 2008:

55% Belong to any group or organization

36% Attend a club meeting

33% Work on a community project

48% Attend religious services at least once a month


Trusting other people. Trust correlates with associational membership because one must have at least limited trust in at least some others before one can work with them voluntarily; and collaborative work often enhances trust.

36% Definitely or generally agree that most people are honest

58% Definitely or generally agree that most people try to be helpful


Connecting to others through family and friends: Close interaction with families and/or friends promotes health and well-being and supports civil society by providing the information, encouragement, and networks that people need to engage in larger groups and communities. Interacting with people who may have different views helps to broaden perspectives, so this year we asked about people’s partisan affiliation and whether they had friends of the other party.

53% Whole family usually eats dinner together

40% Spend a lot of time visiting friends

69% Spend a lot of time communicating with friends using a computer, cell phone, or other electronic device

35% Communicate with friends more than once a day using email, the World Wide Web, instant messages, or phone text messages

39% Identify with one political party and have friends in the other party


Citizen-centered engagement. “Citizen-centered” engagement means bringing diverse groups of citizens together both to discuss and define an issue and to work voluntarily to address it. Citizen-centered engagement thus combines deliberation with action.26

33% Attend a community meeting in which there was discussion of community affairs

39% Work with other people in your neighborhood to fix or improve something

21% Both attend a community meeting and work with other people in the neighborhood

26% Try to change local policies in a place like a school, workplace, college, or neighborhood



Giving and volunteering: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 61 million Americans – 26% of the U.S. population 16 and older - volunteered in their communities in 2007. The Corporation for National and Community Service reports that these volunteers gave “8.1 billion hours of service worth more than $158 billion to America’s communities.”27 Americans also give more than $300 billion each year to charity.28 These contributions fund civil society and address essential needs.

59% Volunteer (phone sample)29


Staying informed: Valuable participation requires information, which can be gleaned from other citizens, the news media, the Internet, and many other sources. The following indicators measure efforts to stay informed:

43% Read the newspaper daily

54% Generally follow news about the government and public affairs

30% Use the Internet at least once a week to gather information about politics, a social issue, or a community problem

33% Watch a presidential candidate’s speech online

39% Watch an online video in support of or opposition to a presidential candidate



Understanding civics and politics: Related to the previous category, these measures measure to what degree Americans feel informed.

49% Identify the Republican Party as more conservative than the Democratic Party

51% Feel able to understand politics and government



Participating in politics: Regardless of one’s political views and attitudes toward government, it is important to influence democratic institutions.

84% Registered to vote

57% Voted in a primary or caucus in 2008 (NB: actual turnout was about 30% of eligible voters)

7% Volunteer for a presidential campaign in 2008

13% Attend political meeting or rally

15% Give money to a candidate or party

6% Making a political contribution online

46% Been asked to register or vote



Trusting and feeling connected to major institutions: Trust in government and the mass media can be understood as a subjective attitude that often (but not invariably) correlates with taking voluntary political action. Trust can also be understood as a measure of how trustworthy our institutions actually are.

74% My vote matters

52% People like me have a say

22% Government is run for the benefit of all (67% say that it is run by a few big interests looking out for themselves.)

23% Government in Washington generally does what is right

58% Confidence in the people who run the press, such as newspapers and news magazines: 58% have “only some,” and 9% have “a great deal.”



Expressing political views: Voting is a powerful means of making choices, but it communicates the voter’s views very imperfectly. Fortunately, citizens have other opportunities to say more precisely what they believe about public issues.

14% Write a letter or email to the editor of a newspaper or magazine

52% Try to talk to someone about why they should vote for a candidate or party

26% Wear a campaign button, put a campaign sticker on the car, or place a campaign poster in the window or in front of the house

57% Express opinions about a political or social or community issue using email, 57%; on your own blog, 11%; by writing or commenting on someone else’s blog, 19%; on a social networking site such as MySpace or Facebook, 26%; by making a video, audio, or photo and sharing it online, 17%; by commenting on someone else’s video, audio, or photo online, 27%; by participating in a chat room, 10%; with instant messaging, 27%; with text messaging, 30%; or by voting in favor or against a news story of video on a site like YouTube or Digg, 17%.