Continue on to more data by clicking a link below.
Question Five
"In order to be a good citizen, a person..."
There are really only three substantial answers to this question. Constant support, or absolute lack of support for the government are not the approach that Americans think good citizens take towards government actions. Answers in the Other category were largely close to one of the other options, said that support of the government is not a factor, or that included the requirement that good citizens will work to change the government if they disagree with it.
Question Four
"In order to be a good citizen, a person..."
As was said in the video, there is not vast agreement on if, or why, a person can break a law and still be considered a good citizen. There is a large spread of answers, with only "Can disobey a few, minor laws..." having any sizable portion of the responses. However, Americans do not believe that a routine law breaker can be considered a good citizen.
"Other" answers fell into the following main criteria...
No one is perfect and may accidentally break a law
Only need to follow laws that are constitutional
Can break a law when not doing so is immoral
Question Three
Which option best finishes the following sentence... "A good citizen..."
There was no vast agreement in how often good citizens vote. I could not really find a way to form any sort of coalition between the answers that would result in 70% agreement. So, this question was not covered in the video. In Question One, 85% of respondents said that good citizens must vote in the general elections. The answers to Question Three may seem to contradict that result. However, most of the options for Question Three cover general elections. A large majority of the "Other" answers stated that a good citizen both becomes knowledgeable enough to make an educated vote and votes often or in every election.
Question Two
"Please check all boxes that contain actions someone must do, or be, in order to be considered a good citizen."
This question asked about social aspects of good citizens. Green rows indicate options that were chosen by 70% of respondents. Interestingly, very few of the choices had even a majority of respondents choosing them. Note, respondents were asked what someone MUST do to be a good citizen. Just because an answer did not receive 70% does not mean that Americans think that the action isn't beneficial to the country. Answers in the "Other" category mainly expanded on one of the listed option; they are quite diverse and cannot be summarized further.
Question One
"Please check all boxes that contain actions that are required in order for a person to be considered a good citizen."
This question asked about political actions that someone must do to be a good citizen. The green highlight represents choices that fulfilled the "vast agreement" criteria of 70% choosing the option. The blue highlight represents choices that were close to the 70% mark, yet not high enough. Answers to the option "Other" were mostly social aspects of citizenship, which are covered in the next question.
Actions of a Good Citizen
The questions on this page asked about what good citizens do.