kathleen hall jamieson is director of the annenberg public policy center at the university of pennsylvania. the headlight on this year's survey is america's civics knowledge increases during a stress filled year. explain. guest: if you do not understand we have three branches of government, it is difficult for you to understand what is happening in the news on a day-to-day basis. one question we ask is, can you name three branches of government? this year, the number of people who could went up. we are surmising the jump was in part because all three branches were in the news this last year. the bad news is they were in the news because this was a stress test year of our system of government. you have the branches contesting with each other, you had an election, the end product of an impeachment process that did not yield a conviction. all of that -- we have an increase in the foundational knowledge about the constitution. the good news is more people can name the branches. i wish we had gotten there through civics education and not a difficult year. host: more people could name the freedo

kathleen hall jamieson discuss civics education. later, new york university's paul barrett discusses the importance of social media on political polarization. "washington journal is next. ♪ host: good morning. it is friday, september 17. constitution day in the united states. the founding fathers assigned the u.s. constitution in philadelphia in 1787. since then, we have made 27 amendments to that original document. this morning, as we reflect on the significance of the constitution, we want to know which of those 27 amendments is most important to you. phone lines split regionally for this discussion. one for the eastern or central time zone, mountain or pacific time zone. you can also send us a text this morning. if you do, please include your name and where you are from. otherwise, catch up with us on social media. a very good friday morning to you. you can go ahead and start calling in now. let us know the most important constant -- eminent to the constitution in your mind. we begin with this:. the headline "the u.s. constitutio

kathleen hall jamieson is director of the annenberg public policy center at the university of pennsylvania. the headlight on this year's survey is america's civics knowledge increases during a stress filled year. explain. guest: if you do not understand we have three branches of government, it is difficult for you to understand what is happening in the news on a day-to-day basis. one question we ask is, can you name three branches of government? this year, the number of people who could went up. we are surmising the jump was in part because all three branches were in the news this last year. the bad news is they were in the news because this was a stress test year of our system of government. you have the branches contesting with each other, you had an election, the end product of an impeachment process that did not yield a conviction. all of that -- we have an increase in the foundational knowledge about the constitution. the good news is more people can name the branches. i wish we had gotten there through civics education and not a difficult year. host: more people could name the freedo

kathleen hall jamieson is director of the annenberg public policy center at the university of pennsylvania. the headlight on this year's survey is america's civics knowledge increases during a stress filled year. explain. guest: if you do not understand we have three branches of government, it is difficult for you to understand what is happening in the news on a day-to-day basis. one question we ask is, can you name three branches of government? this year, the number of people who could went up. we are surmising the jump was in part because all three branches were in the news this last year. the bad news is they were in the news because this was a stress test year of our system of government. you have the branches contesting with each other, you had an election, the end product of an impeachment process that did not yield a conviction. all of that -- we have an increase in the foundational knowledge about the constitution. the good news is more people can name the branches. i wish we had gotte