Examining the Relationship Between Civic Education and Partisan Alignment in Young Voters

Abstract

As American politics becomes more polarized, it is increasingly necessary for teachers to understand the relationship between education and partisan behavior. Using data from a 2012 CIRCLE survey of 18–24-year-olds, I examine the relationship between students’ educational experiences (focusing on exposure to high-quality civics instruction and high school democratic climate) and their propensity to exhibit alignment between party identification, ideology, issue opinions, and candidate choices as young adults. I find that participants who report both a high number of quality civic education experiences and a highly democratic school climate show a reduced likelihood of extreme political alignment. I discuss the implications of this finding and highlight directions for further investigation.

Keywords:

• civic education
• controversial issues
• political polarization
• school climate

Notes

¹ For an example of such items, see Cohen and Kahne’s (2011) Youth Participatory Politics survey.