67% of college students can't identify who represents them.
Poli-Lit Campus Study · CSUSB · 2026
Students rate their own opinions at 3.29 out of 5. Their knowledge of who represents them drops to 2.18. They have opinions. They just don't know who's making decisions for them.
Students rate their own opinions at 3.29 out of 5. Their knowledge of who represents them drops to 2.18. They have opinions. They just don't know who's making decisions for them.
The gap doesn't close from freshman to senior. Graduate students have the worst gap of all, the highest confidence in their own opinions, the same low knowledge of who represents them.
No college or major produces students who can identify their government. Even the highest-scoring group is below the midpoint
29% feel overwhelmed when they encounter civic information. The system isn't just failing to inform people. It's pushing them away.
