Civic engagement takes many forms. The term describes activities as disparate as voting, volunteering, attending religious services, and following the news. Yet “these behaviors are often studied separately, making it difficult to see how they come together in people’s day-to-day lives,” researchers from the Pew-Knight Initiative write in a new report published Thursday.
Their study, based on surveys the team conducted between July and December 2025, looks at those behaviors holistically instead to capture a fuller picture of the different profiles and patterns in how Americans do, and don’t, engage civically.
Researchers Elisa Shearer, Luxuan Wang, Katerina Eva Matsa, Michael Lipka, Benjamin Toff, and Kirsten Eddy found that “rather than falling along a single spectrum, U.S. adults sort into four distinct groups that reflect different patterns of participation.” They call those groups Mobilizers, Connectors, Spectators, and Outsiders.
About one in 10 Americans are Mobilizers, the most active group across all different types of participation. They’re by far the most likely group to engage politically, taking actions like volunteering for campaigns and contacting elected officials.
A larger chunk of Americans, 28%, are Connectors. They’re highly engaged in actions like volunteering and making donations, but much less likely to be heavily engaged in politics.
Spectators account for nearly a third (31%) of Americans. They’re less likely to participate in either civic or political activities, but are distinguished by following the news at similarly high rates to those first two groups.
Finally, Outsiders (also 31% of Americans) are the least engaged Americans on all fronts. That is not to say they’re entirely disengaged; 41% of this group reported voting in 2024.
A few other takeaways from the study:
Younger Americans are more likely to be Spectators, while older Americans are more likely to be Connectors. Meanwhile, “similar shares of younger and older adults fall into the most and least engaged groups.” Younger Americans are also more likely than older Americans to privately share or discuss news on social media or a messaging app, while a similar proportion of Americans across age groups report taking those actions publicly.
There are similar patterns of engagement across party lines. But Mobilizers are slightly more likely to be or lean Democrat, and Connectors are slightly more likely to lean Republican. Outsiders and Spectators are more likely to identify as politically moderate.
The most engaged adults are the most likely to have negative feelings about the state of the country — but more engaged groups are also more likely to report positive feelings about the state of their local community. Connectors are less likely than Mobilizers to say they feel angry or fearful about the state of their community and the country.
The least engaged Americans are the least likely to trust the news — but everybody doubts the fairness of news organizations. “Most Americans, regardless of how much they take part in civic life, say news organizations tend to favor one side when covering political and social issues,” the researchers write. Also of note: Connectors and Outsiders are less likely to report trusting the information they get from social media than Mobilizers and Spectators.
Read more in the full study here.
